The Fall & Rise Of Reno Of The Turks
by Zuperbuu
Summary: Full summary inside. Reno gets into trouble with ShinRa and ends up on a science program, has an accident and wakes up with dark visions and powers. And what's this about his older brother? Please R&R. Rated T for dark content and mild horror. Hiatus.
1. A Set Up To Set Things Straight

--**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or its characters/gangs/locations. I only own this idea. Don't flame me, or I'll report you and do horrible tests on you too.-- 

**AN: No real Authors notice here…just the full summary! This might be a one-shot…depends on interest.  
If I get a few reviews I'll make this a long-shot!  
Well…there is ONE authors notice here…this chapter will feel a little rushed, that's because I cut out the scenes where Reno actually got drunk and got caught in bed with Elena…I wanted to keep this at T and not go to M! T is a wider target audience!!  
So, sorry this chapter will feel a little rushed.**

Curse fanfiction (dot) net for their small summary boxes!!!

The Fall & Rise Of Reno Of The Turks: full summary**  
**  
A cheat, a liar, rude boy and slacker. Reno was known and loved for his antics as a Turk. But when Tseng catches him in bed with Elena things turn nasty. Rufus isn't taking it anymore and wants Reno out of the Turks and away from SOLDIER...permanently. So when the opportunity to throw him into a new science project comes up, Rufus quickly forces Reno into it.  
But after the strange experiments and a nasty bang to the head, Reno awakens with horrible visions and dark powers...scared of what he sees and of what he is slowly becoming he flees into the darkness of Edge...hunted down by his old colleagues like a dog, waiting to be shot.  
T for very strong language and violence, plus mild horror.  
No slashes or pairings other than obvious Tseng/Elena, Cid/Shera and Cloud/Tifa.

**The Fall & Rise of Reno of The Turks**

**Part 1: A Set Up To Set Things Straight**

__

Slick, smooth…he could walk the walk and talk the talk; a real popular guy in the ShinRa Corp after the building was reconstructed, all thanks to him and his 'new ideas' for ShinRa.  
Slumped down in his new office chair in the Turk HQ, the red-haired hipster snoozed with a magazine covering his face, a lollypop hanging from his mouth.  
Lounge music was quietly playing from the heavily labelled stereo behind him, most of the yellow sticky labels being addressed to him directly and where signed by Rufus…in red ink.

"Hey Reno, when are you going to actually take up your post in security!?" came a voice, the tone of irritation breaking the harmony of the lounge atmosphere.

"Wuuuuhh??" slurred the red-haired Turk as he slowly lifted one side of the magazine from his face to get a glimpse of who it was that awakened him; the white suit and strawberry-blonde hair would cause any worker to pack up their attitude and get back to work…and the irritated tone in his voice was a cause for concern to the person who he was directly speaking to.  
After all; everyone here worked for Rufus ShinRa.

"And when are you going to actually install the new computer software? In fact...when are you going to do anything you promised you'd do?" Rufus questioned irritably.  
Reno blinked his drowsy blue eyes at Rufus before letting the magazine rest over his eyes again, yawning heavily and waving tiredly towards his boss.

"Just give me ten more minutes…I'll get right on it, yo." Reno slurred before letting his tired arms fall down both sides of the chair, instantly drifting into slumber once again.

"You've been drinking too much at those parties, Reno. It use to be fun for both of us and everyone else here at ShinRa, seeing you stroll around like an idiot and fall over yourself. But this is the new ShinRa now; you need to shape up quickly to fit into the brand new system Tseng put into place for the Turks…I know you hate working with files and paperwork, but you could at least try…and I know I promised Tseng I would never say a word about this…but the Turks are sp---" Rufus explained, but got interrupted quickly by an angry Tseng storming in through the nearby door the President was stood by…shifting his balance slightly and jolting Reno into sudden panic.

"Reno you little slug!!" Tseng growled at the red-haired Turk, slamming both his hands onto Reno's desk as he leaned over to gaze directly into the slightly worried Turks face.  
Reno shifted his posture quickly to fit the chair, rather than slump all over it, before slowly shifting the chair that tiny bit further away from Tseng.

"Hey…boss…I was just---" Reno laughed nervously before springing into panic as Tseng grasped the front of the slackers shirt and hauled him forwards, staring directly into Reno's blue eyes in anger.  
Rufus sighed heavily and folded his arms.

"Tseng, what has happened now?" Rufus questioned.

"Reno! I've had enough of all of this! What made you think that getting all the new recruits drunk was a good idea!?" Tseng snapped, blinded with his fury enough to not take notice of the President…who just looked on like some parent who is far to use to seeing their children squabble and fight.

"Boss…they looked bored like death! I thought they needed to…you know…unwind a little." Reno laughed nervously, still being grasped by the front of his shirt by the infuriated Tseng.

"You read and should know the new codes of the Turks! Rule number 46: No Unscheduled Outings!!" Tseng growled.

"But Boss…" Reno whimpered.

"And rule number 24: No Alcoholic Consumption in the ShinRa HQ or Turk HQ!" Tseng added, before having his attention gained by Rufus…who coughed to gain his attention.

"…exceptions, of course, to the President." Tseng added.

"Look Boss…I've been doing a lot of beating this weekend and had some things to take care of outside on the streets, so…" Reno began after regaining his cool, slowly edging Tseng off his shirt and making his way towards the nearest door…edging very slowly and carefully just so Tseng didn't go for him again.

"…I had to chill out myself…and these news kids wouldn't take the stress and wanted to chill too, yo…" Reno added before finally making it to the Presidents side, patting him on the shoulder gently before giving Tseng a smug look now that he felt secure by Rufus.

"It wasn't just the new recruits getting drunk that has put your job on a thin line, Reno!" Tseng growled, angry of Reno's cowardice and how he was trying to take advantage of Rufus.  
Reno's eyes gradually started to shift from side to side nervously, he was obviously aware of what Tseng was going to say.

"Mister President, I have a formal request into delivering all these issues to you. A certain someone, who wishes to remain anonymous, took it upon himself to monitor Reno's behavior so we could officially prosecute him…do you wish to hear the issues we uncovered?" Tseng requested, reaching into his jacked to reveal a brown envelope.  
Rufus sighed heavily as a response before reaching out his hand to take the envelope, a quick nod of the head to signify his approval of the request.  
Tseng handed Rufus the envelope and folded his arms angrily as the President opened it and began reading the letters contents; Reno trying to get a peek over the Presidents shoulder, only to get a smack in the face from him.

"Mmmhmmm…oh…now I get it…" Rufus muttered and began to hum what he was reading, before finally starting to think up what to make of the whole thing.  
Tseng remained stern and serious, whilst Reno franticly tried to make the President take his mind off what he just read by waving his arms around and protesting.

"They where spying, yo!! What makes you think that they aren't doing the same to the others, yo!?" Reno protested.  
Tseng clicked his fingers once it became apparent that Reno was becoming restless, the click was a sign to all Turks to come into the room for back up and assistance if the situation or event was planned.  
Basically Tseng planned this whole thing out and had Rude, Elena and other new recruits that where not drunk standing by.  
Rufus lowered the letter he was reading as Rude blocked the exit for Reno and two new recruits held him back from irritating the President any longer.  
Elena stood beside Tseng, quiet as a mouse, looking anywhere but at Reno.

"Vandalism, consumption of alcohol on the premises, planning outings without my consultation, stealing office equipment, coming to work drunk, getting other employees drunk, harassing female workers, questioning the president, not doing tasks set, sabotaging science experiments, not cooperating in group assignments…the list seems to go on and on Reno; I never saw you do anything like this." Rufus said, looking almost gob-smacked.

"I didn't do any of that, yo!" Reno whined.

"After reestablishing ShinRa, we noticed a few problems in your behavior. So we got Mr. Anonymous to spy on you for a month, then we got him to do it again at the start of this month…that letter is all the findings during that first month, the second letter is even bigger." Tseng said.

"And we are spying on three other ShinRa employees, none of them are Turks or Scientists though…just plain old regular members of staff. We do not spy on workers without the Presidents permission though…" one of the new recruits explained, directing their gaze towards the President.  
Reno stopped struggling and looked towards Rufus as if he was betrayed.

"You let them spy on me!?" Reno whimpered as he was trying everything he could mentally to gain sympathy from someone; but everyone expected him to try it, so ignoring him was a little bit easier.  
Everyone stayed silent for a minute or two as Tseng whispered some 'extra information' to Rufus; but once he was done the President knew he had no options left.

"Reno, come up to my office. The rest of you should come too." Rufus sighed before being escorted from the room by Elena and Rude; the two new Turks remained holding Reno back as Tseng approached, a grin planted on his face.

"This will teach you to try and steal her from me." Tseng chuckled.

"I wasn't stealing her from you, boss!" Reno growled, finally getting the two new recruits to release him.

"If you where not trying to steal her from me, then why did I catch you with her?" Tseng lowered his tone.  
Reno smugly brushed a hand through his red hair before drifting the same hand down the side of his face, trying to appear calm and slick as usual.

"She made the first move, yo. I just followed what she put out to me. If anything, she was cheating on you." Reno smugly answered.  
Tseng immediately grasped Reno by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the nearby wall, still grasping the younger Turk with both hands.

"She…would NEVER sleep with you willingly…she told me you took advantage of her when she became drunk, much like the sleaze you really are! And if the tests she let us take prove positive, you'll be out of this job…and I'll be able to hunt you down and beat you like we use to beat all our enemies!" Tseng explained in a growling tone, easing off his pressure on Reno gradually after finishing what he had to say.  
Once he released him, Tseng brushed himself down and made sure he looked calm and stern once more, before clicking his fingers to order the two new recruits to escort Reno to Rufus' office.

"If you really want to get through this without a beating, Reno…I suggest you keep your mouth shut and only speak when you are told to. Right now you are under probation; one slip of the tongue could end everything." Tseng finished as Reno was hauled out of the Turk HQ.  
----

Reno was lightly escorted from the elevator up to the Presidents office; instead of rebelling and protesting he was trying everything he could to think up some excuse to sum up his actions.  
'I was drunk' wouldn't work like it use to, all the Turks know that Reno has to drink something incredibly powerful now to get so drunk to sleep with another worker…especially one he knew was going out with his boss.  
Finally reaching the top of the stone stairs to the velvet-feeling red carpet of Rufus' office, Reno had to quickly choose which excuse he was going to use.

"Sit down you two, Reno…stand in front if you would." Rufus sighed as the two new recruits backed off and took their seats at the back of the room.  
Reno looked to his left and saw Rude guarding the stairway; and then he looked to his right and saw Elena guarding that stairway.  
Tseng was stood beside Rufus' desk, his hands behind his back and looking very serious. Reeve was there too, stood behind Rufus and seemed to be helping him make sense of the letters and paperwork he just received a few seconds ago.  
But Reno didn't know where that paperwork came from or what it was about, it must have been 'social related'…otherwise, why have Reeve there to help him make sense of it?

"Reno, Tseng broke the news to me just a few minutes ago about a certain event that occurred two nights ago…and today we have solid enough proof over your future here at ShinRa…" Rufus began in a light-hearted tone, resting one hand on his desk whilst using the other to rub his chin.  
Reno took in a heave of air and gulped, the tone in Rufus' voice was enough to make him feel a little nervous…it wasn't often he heard the President talk like that.

"…if Tseng hasn't told you already, we had to take a quick 'test' on Elena to prove, or disprove, a claim made earlier. If her test scored positive you would be prosecuted and stripped of your Turk career, and any future careers with ShinRa other than one would be out of your reach. But if she scored negative, you would be left on probation. After all, you did commit all these other breaches…usually I would throw them aside, but questioning my authority flushed that benefit down the toilet." Rufus added; rubbing his head tiredly before examining a thin pink slip of paper Reeve handed to him after he finished speaking, Rufus shaking his head after reading whatever was printed on it.  
Reno narrowed his eyes for a second before widening them to their regular shape, jolting his head to look in Elena's direction; she quickly looked away from him once she realized he was looking at her for some kind of support.  
This whole thing seemed like it was set up.

"Reno, look at me when I'm talking to you." Rufus ordered in the same light tone.  
The red-haired Turk squinted and twitched as he slowly turned his gaze back to Rufus, like an injured animal Reno began to use his youthful and playful nature to heal his soon to-come wounds.  
As soon as something bad gets thrown at him, Reno will jolt into using his 'youthful' nature to gain sympathy like he always does…and when he finally gets it; he'll use the more 'playful' side to regain Rufus' trust and faith in him.  
Little did Reno know, that his old tricks where past their expiry date.

"These are the test results from the lab…and it says here that Elena scored…" Rufus began.  
The tension built up as the President paused; Reno began to kick into his 'youthful panic attacks' by breathing heavily and trembling, Tseng had a sinister smirk planted on his face, Elena and the two new Turks just looked eager to hear the results whilst Rude stayed silent and motionless…as usual.

"…it says Elena scored positive. So…that's it. We only have three options for you now Reno, no matter what you come up with the tests don't lie and we can not change our decision." Rufus explained.

"How can you get results for that like…really quick, yo!? I was told it would take like…a month before anything showed up!" Reno protested.

"Don't speak unless the President asks you to!!" Tseng barked.

"Tseng, please…let him speak when he wants to…Reno, this wasn't a pregnancy test. It's a new test made especially for work-related relationships, like certain youngsters stealing other workers girlfriends or boyfriends." Rufus explained.

"But I….she…Tseng said…awww shit, man." Reno huffed in defeat, none of his excuses seemed to surface. He was left speechless for once.

"Reno, I'm doing what is best for the new ShinRa. You've done some great things for us, but you've been more of a burden than anything else. That's why I'm giving you three options…" Rufus began, sighing heavily as he gazed at the shocked and almost petrified Reno stood before his desk.

"One, you can simply leave ShinRa right now and try to live a 'normal' life. I hear your parents have gotten back together and would willingly take you back…" Rufus' began.

"Two, you can enroll in our science program as a test subject…but I'm afraid there is only one slot available for someone like you, and to be honest I would hate to see you so humiliated." Rufus laughed.  
Those first suggestions made Reno shudder; move back in with his parents? He hated them both with a passion…his mother would go on and on about how successful he would be as an artist, whilst his father would shout at how pathetic he was and how he would never be in SOLDIER or the Turks.  
Reno only joined the Turks to get back at his dad, but even now his father would be shouting and laughing at him.  
The 'being a test subject' was a big NO; Reno saw what happened to previous SOLDIER's who got fired and forced into the programs, and Rufus wasn't kidding when he said Reno would be humiliated.  
They'd cut his hair and start pumping all kinds of drugs into him, all the subjects Reno saw became unstable and died…or had to be killed because they where uncontrollable.  
Reno sighed heavily and hoped the third option would be lighter hearted.

"And the third option…well…err…there is no third option. I made that up just to make it sound like I had more ideas…anyway! You have to choose now, before I choose for you." Rufus finished.  
Hearing that there where no other options hit Reno hard, being fired knocked him over…but only having two options was a kick in the face and a blow to the gut.  
Before Reno could blurt out over choosing his first option, a quartet of scientists stormed up the stairs and flooded over to the president's desk in a panic.

"Sir, our latest subject was a failure! They did not meet the requirements!" the oldest male scientist blurted out.

"Uh…couldn't you have called me on the phone about this, I'm in the middle of---" Rufus began in a slightly irritated tone.

"I am greatly sorry, but I insisted they come up immediately if something went wrong, sir." Tseng interrupted, bowing his head in apology before delivering a slightly sinister smirk in Reno's direction.

"Fine…did the subject die or did the project flunk again?" Rufus questioned, sighing heavily as he began his sentence.

"The dosage was lethal, sir. They perished instantly. We have come up to put out a request for more test subjects, we direly need more!" the elder male scientist explained in a slightly frantic tone.  
Rufus quickly clicked his fingers and nodded, before directing his gaze to Reno.  
The ex-Turk now felt the gaze of everyone on him, as did he feel his heart racing.

"Reno here has just sadly departed the Turks…so…if he meets the requirements you could snap him up right now." Rufus suggested.

"Rufus!!" Reno cried out in a desperate attempt to sway the President's idea.  
The three younger scientists surrounded Reno and quickly began inspecting him, whilst the elder smiled in a pleased manner and nodded.

"Oh yes, he fits the requirements ever so nicely! We would love to start work right away!" the elder male scientist thanked.

"Rufus, man! I'm not working with ShinRa anymore, yeah!? So you can't just throw me into a science project, yo!!" Reno barked, getting heavily worked up over how excited the scientists where getting.  
Much like a pack of starving wolves being fed prime meat, the scientists where not going to let Reno slip by quite so easily.

"If I recall, Reno…we haven't officially fired you yet. We only got around to helping you decide what to do. So, you are still officially licensed as a worker of ShinRa. So the President can put you into whatever role he wishes!" Tseng answered with a slight chuckle in his tone.  
Then it finally hit Reno.

_"Shit…this was a set up!!" _Reno thought angrily as he growled in Tseng's direction.  
It explains everything; why Reno never got told about new science projects, why Elena was so desperate to sleep with him, why the new recruits said that the boss gave them the OK to drink out…and why Tseng ordered the scientists to come upstairs whenever they felt like it.  
One thing remained unclear though, why him? Why not another member of SOLDIER or one of the new Turks?  
Even if this whole thing was planned to get him into the science project, they wouldn't just do any old experiment on him…all these previous tests must have been 'trail and error' tests for a major project.  
What it was, Reno didn't know…because nobody told him about the new science projects after ShinRa was rebuilt.  
In a desperate attempt to escape whatever lab-bound fate awaited him, Reno lunged himself backwards and out of the horde of scientists…only to stumble over and fall right into the arms of Rude, who remained silent and motionless…simply keeping Reno from falling to the ground by holding him up from under his arms.  
Whilst Reno sighed with relief over his best buddy making sure he didn't hurt himself, he didn't take notice of the elder scientist approaching.  
As Rude hauled Reno back to his feet, the red-haired ex-Turk turned to face his best friend to thank him…only to feel the sharp pain of something jamming into his neck, quickly followed by a mass of dizzy spells and a headache, before finally falling unconscious.  
Once again Rude stopped Reno from falling over and hurting himself, but now that the once frantic ex-Turk was sleeping things could finally go on ahead.

"That should make things a bit easier…but we really must find a way to tame him, if we go ahead with the project with his anger and fear still loitering about we could end up with another…ahem!...you-know-who." The elderly male scientist explained.

"Don't worry Professor Sago…once you've commenced with the operation and the Mako enhancement, not to mention injecting him with our 'special something'…I am sure he will settle down. It's just needles he's scared of." Rufus chuckled before waving to the unconscious Reno, who was being carried downstairs by the three younger scientists.  
Professor Sago followed quickly behind them, his grey hair but balding-head catching the light of the stairway lamps causing a sinister feel.

"Make sure to clean and return that uniform to us!" Tseng yelled down to the scientists before making his way to the centre of the room, whistling to the remaining Turks to all gather and begin discussing new security measures, well…everyone but Rude, who remained silent and glanced down the stairs...watching his best friend be hauled off, possibly wondering what kind of horrible experiments are waiting to be done on him.

__

**END OF CHAPTER 1****.**

AN: I only put this chapter up right away because I can keep jumping back to it whilst I write out the next few chapters.  
Usually I just write the whole thing from ending to beginning, but this time I'm doing it the 'right' way as many keep saying to me.

I know I got Reno to say 'yo' a lot after every sentence he said (other than to Tseng every now and then) but in the Japanese version of the game he says 'zo' after every sentence, and 'zo' is basically translated to 'yo'.

I am basing this story on GAME events, I haven't played Dirge Of Cerberus yet but that would count…events of Advent Children happened…but won't be mentioned.  
ShinRa Corp and Midgar have been rebuilt and they no longer use Mako energy as a power source, ShinRa now invest into the Space Program and Science.  
Edge still exists, but not as many people live there now. (More moved to Neo Midgar)  
Explanations OVER! And don't expect the next part too soon, college is death.

Here's your teaser.

**Teaser for next chapter**

_"He's out to get me…"_

"Yep…he's just been slumped in that corner for hours like that, just keeps saying something about 'somebody being out to get him'."

"Maybe he's finally lost his marbles!"

"…out to butcher me…slay me like I did them…"

"He's scaring the shit out of me…can't we beat him to shut him up!?"

"…dark…horrible…blood-feasted visions!!"

"It could be a mental disorder. Even if we wanted to beat the crap out of him we still couldn't, he's got a head injury after all."

__


	2. Everybodys Hero Hits Ground Zero

--**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or its characters/locations. I only own this idea and Kisho. Don't flame me, or I'll report you and do horrible tests on you too.-- 

**AN: Reno is DARK in this fanfiction…dark characters rock!!!  
I liked Reno as he was, but I couldn't help myself! I feed on the darkness!  
…plus I need to practice more on horror…  
If you listen to Disturbed, you'll find it was one source of inspiration for this chapter…and whole fanfiction:P  
I also thought I should throw in a fragment from one of my poems, the ones that are on my site…which is still broken! (cries) SORRY!**

"_Broken.  
Torn astray.  
The darkness swells within.  
And with it the power grows.  
Awaiting the day to come.  
The time for its enlistment.  
Hatred rises.  
The blood boils and the cells spread.  
Recognition decays.  
As fear and anger unite."  
Poem #12: The Needle Of Lies_

**The Fall & Rise of Reno of The Turks**

**Part 2: Everybody's Hero…Hits Ground Zero**

_  
_  
Everybody dreams, even those who stare blankly into space dream.  
But some people say that they don't have dreams when they sleep, but more so have precognition…a form of foresight.  
This is seen to some as a blessing…a way to prevent danger and harm they see in their 'dreams' from happening.  
However, the mind can trick you…sometimes those with precognition call it a curse, where they see things they cannot prevent from happening, such as a disaster or biological illness.  
The 'visions' can cause the mind to decay, slowly causing the psychic to drift into madness…haunted by their own visions.  
Almost all beings who gain the power of foresight end their lives by means of suicide, but a rare few learn to cope with their power and use it.  
But still, ShinRa hunted them down and started using them in scientific research. All would die through the course of operation on their heads as the scientists tried to find the source of their powers, only one survived the experiments…but he had something special injected into his system first, something that kept him strong and prevented fear from causing his death to occur.  
All those who spied on this research program found that it wasn't Jenova cells, ShinRa where past all that…although they did use a small amount left in the labs for other sources of research.  
Such as the research which involved finding out if Jenova cells caused insanity.  
But the spies couldn't put their finger on what ShinRa where exactly pumping into their test subjects, and the side effects where hard to see…since the only survivor was locked away and put under a deep sleep for future reference.  
Although in the midst of night, people in the newly-built Midgar area would say they could hear him screaming…his voice sounding like the wailing of the dead.  
The Turks, except Reno, knew about the mysterious test subject. After all, he was part of SOLDIER.  
But Reno didn't know anything about him, or what he was going to be used for. Only how he was the 'best SOLDIER to come by since Cloud, Zack and Sephiroth'.  
Little did Reno know; was that when he found out the name of the subject it will change his life forever.  
Although Deep Ground where defeated some time ago, the President thought it was still a good idea to make a batch of super-humans just for research cause.  
The only thing Reno knew about was the Presidents plans to rebuild SOLDIER, make it bigger and stronger.  
So it would be no surprise that they chose that certain SOLDIER to throw into the program.  
Reports came up a few weeks ago that Reno actually decided to look through; they said that certain SOLDIER just vanished into thin air on a mission at the ShinRa Mansion in Nibelheim.  
Reno's deep track of thought was quickly disturbed by the arrival of many scientists who where going to do who knows what to him, but he wouldn't let anyone get within reach of him to find out what they would do.

"How are we supposed to commence with the project if the specimen doesn't remain calm!?" one young scientist questioned the chief of staff, who was readying a syringe of some kind of serum.  
ShinRa's new laboratory looked just like the old one, only now they had special 'specimen containment facilities' for stronger experiments.  
These new 'containment facilities' just involved a regular ShinRa prison cell with reinforced walls and doors, a bed with straps to pin the subject down with, and other regular prison-like things.  
For someone like Reno though, they had to try something a little tougher…which is where the 'prized subjects containment facilities' come in.  
Only those which would be used as the 'finalised' subjects would be put in these rooms, they where 100 times stronger than the average ones and had more restraining items within them.  
But of course, Reno was sneaky and found a way to get out of the restraints.

"Professor Sago, we need to restrain the subject, but he keeps getting loose from the straps. We don't know what to do!" the same scientist whined.  
The sounds of Reno struggling could be heard from within a nearby locked room, along with the frantic calling for support from other scientists who where possibly trying to restrain him.

"Just try to keep him still long enough for me to give him the serum, I've dealt with the subject in the past when it came to needles…turning him away usually helps." Professor Sago answered as he finished preparing the serum, giving it a quick shake to make sure the liquid didn't distil when he gave it to Reno.  
The last thing they wanted was the injection to take a little longer than they where planning.  
Professor Sago was the former head of science employment, so he was responsible for hiring the likes of Hojo and Gast.  
But this was the first project he'd done in years, back around the old days he just issued the Turks with medical treatment and gave them their Mako Injections.  
So he saw Reno quite a lot, but the Turk was so scared of needles that he was always blindfolded before coming to get them.  
So Reno had never really _seen_ the Professor before.  
The young scientist hurried over to the metal door and slid it open slightly to see if Reno was restrained again, but got startled by the ex-Turk falling clear out of the door and flat on his face, twitching slightly.  
He was wearing a pair of black trousers and a grey/white vest; he only had a pair of socks on as well…since his Turk uniform was taken from him whilst he was sedated.  
He must still have been relieved that they left his hair alone.

"You didn't give him a sedative, did you!?" Sago snapped, approaching the room which Reno fell out of.

"No sir! He just kept charging at the door until it was open!" the scientists answered in unison.  
Sago huffed and tapped his foot as he gazed down at the twitching Reno, who was obviously staging the whole thing to get out of taking the 'injection'.  
Kneeling down by Reno's side, Sago picked up the ex-Turks left wrist and timed his pulse…chuckling slightly after finding Reno's heart rate was through the roof, the Turk was getting really worked up over the whole thing.  
Sago use to be the most calm and friendly of scientists, but after being assigned the 'chief of staff' role he started to slip into madness and would now be considered another Hojo.  
The new Turks are just glad they don't get him anymore for medical treatment; they have someone much more…sane.  
But now taking advantage of Reno's foolish attempt to get out of the whole thing, Sago ordered the other scientists to hold him down.  
The instant the scientists pinned him down as he was still facing the floor, Reno began struggling again. Kicking his legs about and desperately trying to move his arms.  
But his right arm was pulled onto his back, much like how a police officer would pin down a criminal, and his left arm was pinned in the 'stretched out' position.  
His own attempt to get out of the injection just made it easier for the scientists to give him it.  
As Sago poked the syringe into Reno's left arm, the ex-Turk flayed around as violently as he could from the pain just so that they would hurry it up or just stop.  
Luckily for all of them that the injection didn't take too long.  
Once they where done, the younger scientists cleared off and got back to doing their own little part for the project, whilst Sago aided the very tired Reno to his feet.

"That's what you get for struggling." Sago laughed as he sat Reno down in a restraining chair, the slightly tired ex-Turk taking no notice of course because of his drowsiness.

"Sit still, we need to give you a Mako injection as well." Sago chuckled as he fastened the restraining straps around Reno's wrists, ankles and neck.  
The instant he saw Sago reveal another, much larger, syringe; Reno started to enter panic mode again.

"Just look away, you coward. Don't make us blindfold you like we use to." Sago laughed as he prepared the injection.

"I was already given one when I joined the Turks, yo!" Reno blurted out, squirming in the restraining chair.  
He wasn't lying either, he got a Mako injection shortly after joining the Turks.  
So why was he being given another? The dosage would be lethal!

"Oh, don't worry your pretty little face! This is just over the lethal dosage." Sago answered sarcastically.  
Reno tried to get free even more now, the scientist was whacked-up inside the head if he knew he was giving someone a lethal dosage of Mako.  
Shutting his eyes tightly as he struggled even more, Reno felt his heart rate racing and his muscles tighten up.  
Another scientist joined in to help Sago, just to calm the ex-Turk down enough for them to apply the tourniquet to his left arm.  
A blindfold was placed around Reno's eyes to stop him panicking from the sight of the needle.  
Reno couldn't see the on-coming injection, but he felt the tourniquet painfully clinging to his left arm…and he knew what he was going to get, so the stress continued to build up.  
He finally screamed in agony as he was given the Mako injection, the power from the dosage was so strong that it caused his entire body to tighten and swell with pain.  
Unlike the first one, this injection took much longer…either because Sago enjoyed seeing his subjects suffer, or they really where giving him a lethal dosage.  
But once it was all done the tourniquet was removed as was the blindfold…and usually a gentle strap would be wrapped around the area where the injection was given to prevent bleeding, but nothing was placed on Reno.  
Although the injection stopped a few seconds ago, Reno was still swelling with pain from the mass amounts of Mako burning through his veins.  
If what he learnt was true, he'd be dead within 5 minutes.

"Now usually we'd give our subject the rest of the day off, but the president said you where strong…and you fit the requirements so well…so we're going to keep going with the project today." Sago grinned, wiping his hands with a towel to remove any Mako that may have gotten onto his gloves.  
Reno let his head rest on the back of the seat as he began to pant heavily, sweat dripping from his chin and down from his forehead.  
His entire body felt like it was on fire internally, his head was sore from the Mako…and every limb in his body began to twitch.  
A sign that the Mako dosage was attacking his body, destroying his very system…that's what happens to those who get lethal amounts of the stuff.  
The body overloads, enters shock and then becomes either comatose or shuts down.  
Basically, you die.   
Those who enter a coma usually get unplugged a week after they where given the dosage, so either way, you end up dead.  
Reno wanted to let out all the bottled up anger he had before he'd kick the bucket, but before he could even begin to bad-mouth ShinRa he stumbled out of the chair once he was released and slipped…falling backwards and banging the back of his head.  
Instantly causing him to fall unconscious.  
----

PING.

"_Welcome, Mr. President._" Said a computer as the elevator doors opened to the labs.  
And in walked Rufus, and the Turks Tseng, Elena and Rude. The labs where bustling and extremely busy when they where pretty much deserted earlier when Reno's 'operation' had to be done.  
But that was about 2 hours ago; the ex-Turk was now in a glass tube in the centre of the room, in a slumber of some sort…the green-coloured liquid obviously helping to maintain him within that slumber.

"I see you're breezing through the project now, Sago." Rufus grinned, shaking hands with the elderly professor.

"Oh yes! The subject may be a little bit violent, but from our past tests with E1-11 he should settle down once we give him the necessary 'Protomateria Stabilizer'. We already finished with his operation." Sago answered, approaching the main computer connected to Reno's tube.  
The ex-Turk was covered in bandages, mainly down his left arm where they injected everything, whilst a 'gas-flow mask' was placed over his mouth to help him breath.  
The scientists suddenly sprung into panic once an alarm sounds, the red light flashing on and off constantly as the younger scientists began hammering on their computers to fix the problem.

"One slight problem with the subject is his 'levels'…if they go critical, then everyone is going to be in serious trouble." Sago answered as he simply, and calmly typed into the computer to balance the levels again.  
Although the green-liquid was supposed to keep Reno asleep, as well as maintaining his 'levels' of balance, the ex-Turk was already starting to wake up.  
From within Reno's point of view, he could see the figures of Rufus talking to some scientists and Tseng talking to Elena…who was crying heavily beside the elevator.  
Rude was stood right next to Sago, looking up at Reno before adjusting his sun glasses.  
Reno's vision was slightly blurred, and the colour of his surroundings kept flashing red from his point of view.  
He also got sharp pains in his left arm and right at the back of his head.  
Suddenly the pain swells into the back of his head and a flash of light distorts his vision, the image of a tall muscular man wearing SOLDIER attire appearing in the flash of light…his medium-length shaggy-blue hair almost merging with his outfit.

_Wake up, brother._

Reno squinted in pain as the flashes continued to occur, scenes from the past reflecting on him…even things he'd never experienced before in the past flashed before his eyes.

_I'm so sorry! I couldn't…_

Even events from people memories started to flash before his eyes, like Vincent's memories of Lucrecia…but they kept returning to the same SOLDIER whom vanished 2 weeks ago.

_We must reunite against them all, even those who set us on this course. Awaken, brother._

Cloud's memories, Tifa's, Barret's, Nanaki's…you name it, he was seeing it.  
The SOLDIER constantly referred Reno as a brother, and obviously Reno responded…because this missing SOLDIER….was his actual older brother.

"KISHO!" Reno screamed, everyone turning instantly to face his direction as the alarm for his levels becoming unbalanced sounded again, as he quickly jolted to life and violently began lashing out at the glass tube he was in.

"Not again! Go back to sleep E2-11!" Sago whined as he began to type into the computer violently.  
Rude remained calm and continued to look up at the flaying Reno, who was almost growling in pain rather than screaming.  
Tseng and Rufus just stared at the violent test-subject in awe, never before did they see such anger from the ex-Turk…or such a change in character.  
Elena fled the room in tears, horrified by what the scientists had done to Reno.  
She hated him for being a slacker, but she never would have wished THIS upon him.  
Reno's levels quickly became balanced again once Sago finally tapped into the computer what he needed, although his levels became balanced again Reno remained awake.  
Only now, he was quiet as a mouse.  
Rude shook his head and sighed heavily before leaving, not even stopping to say where he was going.  
Tseng chuckled and patted Rufus on the back, whilst the president was still looking at Reno in awe.  
The pat on the back quickly startled him though, causing him to turn his attention to Tseng.

"I told you setting him up like that would work! And you wanted to tell him the truth!" Tseng laughed.  
Rufus snorted.

"No doubt the experiment is working…it worked on his brother…but don't you think he's a little more violent than Kisho? When we came to see his progress **that** fit of violence never happened." Rufus questioned with a slight tone of concern in his voice.  
Tseng just shrugged.

"It's because he repressed everything, where as E1-11 let it all out on his missions when he worked in SOLDIER. Isn't that how you decided these two would be most suitable?" Sago answered, then questioned as he continued to type on the main computer.

"I had to get Kisho into this project; we had to find out what it was he was hiding from us. I didn't want to get Reno involved, but I had no choice!" Rufus answered back.  
Sago instantly entered a mad laughing fit, one that sounded most insane to the President…but one that wasn't as soul-cutting as Hojo's.

"To think that these two where working together in secret! And what a finding we stumbled on, all because of their work! E1-11 and E2-11 should have been scientists with all the things they found!" Sago laughed.

"I'm sure the serum I gave them both is working, after all…E1-11 has started mutating…and E2-11 is showing signs of transmogrification. So no doubt we will uncover the truth behind it all, we just have to keep them monitored until we can begin testing. It's such a shame that it did not work on their father." Sago laughed insanely, as Rufus stormed out of the labs…obviously hearing enough.  
Tseng remained though for a short period to join the laughter, before leaving himself.  
----

_"Come on, Reno! Dad said if we finish up before lunch we get to have ice cream!" _laughed a young boy, who fitted the exact same description as the SOLDIER who went missing.

_"Ice cream!" _laughed the other boy, whose point of view we are gazing from.  
The boy with the blue hair was Kisho, Reno's older brother…and this seemed to be a flashback to when they where both small boys.  
Back when they lived in Kalm.  
The two boys hurry on with logs of wood in their arms, laughing as they hurried through the tall grass to their home.  
When they finally reached the end of the tall grass and to their home, Young Kisho opened the front door and helped Young Reno through as he was carrying the most.  
After dumping the logs onto the pile of their previous round, the boys could hear their mother talking in the kitchen and decided to hurry on over to her.  
But when they entered the kitchen, they where greeted by their mother crying by the fireplace and two full grown adults wearing blue suits sighing heavily.  
Turks.

_"Mom, why are you crying?" _Young Reno asked in a very worried, yet naive, tone.  
The two Turks turned to look at the brothers, as their mother glanced at them before storming into tears again.  
One of the Turks approached the boys and knelt down, a smile perked on their face.

_"You two must be Kisho and Reno…we where just talking to your mother about you." _The Turk said in a friendly tone.  
After all the boys where very young, Reno was about 8 and Kisho was 11. So they had to be very careful what they said to them.

_"You both have a very special gift…and we have heard many stories about all the materia you keep finding in your pockets, even though you don't remember putting them there." _The other Turk said in a similar tone.  
Kisho nodded and started fisting the air.

_"You've got it! I'm the great materia gatherer, Kisho! And that's my psycho baby brother, Reno! So are you interested in buying some of our materia or something? We found some more this morning!" _Kisho boasted.  
The two Turks looked at Reno and then at each other, nodded with a serious expression on their faces, before turning to face the brothers again.  
They then asked what kind of materia the boys come up with, and if they knew how to use it.

_"We find all kinds of materia! But usually my baby brother finds the summon materia, but then he finds this clear white materia that we've never seen before…and we know how to use them all 'cause we've been practicing for when we join SOLDIER together! Isn't that right, Reno?" _Kisho explained, turning to his little brother.  
Reno wasn't listening though; he was still asking his mother why she was crying.

"I understand now why you where crying, mother." Real-time Reno thought as the flashback faded away to another, where the boys where much older.  
They where practicing hand-to-hand combat and Reno was getting his ass kicked as usual.  
Their father was sat on a rock nearby, blowing a whistle every now and then to call time-outs.

_"Reno! You'll never amount to anything with such girly combat moves! Do what your brother does!" _the rugged, muscular man boomed before blowing the whistle again for them to continue.  
Reno got to his feet and took his fighting stance, before launching a spiral-kick at his brother…who guarded it with tremendous ease and counter-attacked with a quick kick to his brothers' side.  
The boys' father sighed and slapped his own forehead before blowing the whistle again, getting to his feet and leaving angrily.

_"You wouldn't even make bottom rank in SOLDIER like that! You're weak, Reno! And good work Kisho, keep it up."_ The father boomed as he made his way back to Kalm, which was only a short walk away.  
Kisho approached Reno and aided him up, the brothers where in their teens now…Reno was 15 and Kisho was 18.

_"Don't listen to pop…he's just being the grumpy old fart he is."_ Teen-Kisho laughed, patting his sore brother on the back.

_"He's got a point though, Kisho…I won't make it into SOLDIER with you the way I am right now, yo." _Teen-Reno sighed.  
Teen-Kisho chuckled.

_"Our dad's a lazy bum! Just join the Turks like he did, I'm sure you'll get into there. You know how to fight with a weapon; you just suck at hand-to-hand combat!" _Teen-Kisho laughed.  
Teen-Reno nodded and smiled at his brother.

_"Hey! Let's make a promise! Let's both help each other through our jobs secretly until we can both work together again! Then we can finish what we started!" _Teen-Kisho suggested.  
Teen-Reno nodded and they both whacked each others fists together as a sign of promise, Reno using his left arm and Kisho using his right.

"We'll never finish what we started…never…it was just a dream thought up by kids, yo." Real-time Reno thought.  
The flashback fades away and into another, where Kisho gets taken away to ShinRa by a pair of Turks…and a little while later Reno does as well.  
Then everything falls black.  
----

Darkness.  
The subject was sleeping, most quietly and calmly…his dreams where fair and normal.

_Not as normal as he may think._

His body may still be in pain, but at least the swelling in his left arm had soothed and gone down.

_But wait until he sees it._

The wound in his chest where the operation was done had already cleared up and healed by itself. No trace of the operation remained scarred or torn.

_Healing is 300 times faster._

Suddenly his heart rate began to increase, as did the blood pressure in his head.  
Thud, thud. Thud, thud.  
The quick jolt of pain in the back of the head returned; followed by the same flash of white light seen earlier.  
Bu-dump, bud-ump, bud-ump, bud-ump.  
His heart raced faster.  
The left arm swelled up again and the burning sensation of Mako flowed through it, in and instant he screamed in agony and lashed out for whatever was in front of him.  
SMASH! He broke through the glass tube, but he still couldn't see anything.  
He stood upright and slowly opened his eyes, panting heavily he looked around him…feint blurs of red distorted his vision.  
Quickly the pain returned and he fell to his knees, his right arm grasping his left…squeezing with all his might to sooth it.  
The flashes returned images of blood…the massacre of many ShinRa employees and scientists…all of which he didn't know.  
He got to his feet again; panting once more…the sounds of his heart thumping hard against his chest are heard in the very back of his head.  
Limping towards the nearest exit, Reno flinched in pain as his left arm started to twitch and burn with Mako again.  
Suddenly, he lashed out at a nearby wall with the left arm and growled like an angry monster…the imprint on the wall burning away slowly, the marks appearing like a demon had slashed the wall instead of a human being.  
Reno's vision was deteriorating rapidly, he didn't stay around to further examine what he'd just done…he wanted to…but his body was being pulled towards the scientists elevator.  
When he takes that elevator, he can go all the way down to the ground floor.  
Hopefully he wouldn't pass out on the way down.  
But before he could even open the elevator doors, three scientists hurried into the room to investigate…and found him there…a claw-like left hand scratching down the wall beside the elevator whilst he rested his head against it…the right fist clenched and constantly being slammed onto the doors whilst his body violently twitched.  
They approached quickly, one alerting security just in case he escapes, before jolting backwards in terror as Reno roared monstrously.  
Before they could get out of the room, Reno turned around to their direction after hearing their gasps…a snarl on his face…his eyes no longer glowing the Mako-tainted blue they use to, but they now shined a bloody crimson with a hint of amber-yellow in the centre…around the cat-slit like pupil.  
Reno growled angrily as he turned fully to face the scurrying scientists, lazily letting his demonic left-hand scratch down the wall as he turned.  
Bearing his newly revealed fangs, Reno let out a sharp roar before launching for the scientists in a fit of fury.  
He was too fast for them to escape; a crimson blur was all they saw before meeting their bloody end.  
A slash to knock them off their feet, a stab with the same set of claws to a vital organ, followed by a swift bite…every time he launched an attack, his body mutated even more.  
His ponytail spiked out and finally ripped out of its restraint, almost appearing to be like a ruffle on the back of an animal.  
Roaring angrily, Reno continued his onslaught as he worked his way down the ShinRa building.  
---

Elsewhere at Tifa's 7th heaven bar, a reunion of the old gang was taking place.  
After all, it was 10 years since the defeat of Sephiroth.  
Everyone was there, sat either at the bar drinking or sat at a table having some snacks and talking about what they had been doing for the past 7 years.  
Tifa, Cloud and Reeve (Who came as Cait Sith.) where sat around a table eating snacks and talking about their new journeys and adventures.  
Yuffie was constantly harassing Vincent, who was quietly sat on his own in the corner of the room, about where he has been since the Deep Ground incidents.  
Shelke was sat by the table Cloud was, stroking a snoozing Nanaki with Marlene and Denzel.  
Cid Highwind and Barrett where sat at the bar drinking a bottle of whiskey, watching the TV.

"We have just received footage and reports of the mass attack on the ShinRa HQ by some kind of monster which occurred some 3 hours ago…" the TV reporter began, the gang looking at the screen once the mentioned 'ShinRa HQ' was displayed from the aerial camera shot.  
A whole horde of SOLDIERS where gathered outside the main entrance, firing rapidly at something which could be heard roaring.

"…the monster, which has been presumed to be another one of ShinRa's many human-experiments, has already butchered 15 people and injured many more…"

"Turn that off!" Yuffie demanded from the back of the room.  
Cid turned around to face her in an irritated manner, a cigarette gently held between his fingers.

"You want it off, come and turn it off! Otherwise, shut yer trap woman!" Cid huffed before continuing to watch the TV.

"Another failed experiment…I bet they'll just send the Turks out to kill the poor person like last time." Tifa sighed.

"What I find really strange is…the Turks usually work as a unit to track down and terminate the failed experiments, but have you noticed that one of them is never involved?" Cloud questioned.  
There was the light sound of a bang upstairs, Marlene, Denzel and Shelke decide to investigate…seeing as no one else took much notice of it.  
Cait Sith continued to gobble up the goodies on the table as he joined in the conversation.

"Aye, yes. Reno has not been called up for a job like that since meteor-fall. And the big man himself has been hiding things from him!" Cait Sith answered.

"The question is, Cait, why haven't ShinRa gotten him involved? He usually jumped in on anything when he was given the chance." Cloud added.  
Tifa sighed heavily before something came to her mind.

"Maybe he's quitting the Turks!" Tifa suggested.  
Cait Sith hummed before actually pausing whilst he was eating.

"Tifa, you're not too far off there." Cait Sith answered.  
Everyone but Cid and Barrett turned to glance at Cait Sith.  
---

At ShinRa HQ…in the president's office.

"I don't care what you do, just don't kill him!" Rufus growled at the horde of Turks before his desk.  
Tseng chuckled.

"I'm sorry sir…but he's a threat now. We must treat him as a monster and gun him down…before he comes back to get us." Tseng answered.

"If you kill him, I swear I'll---" Rufus growled, before throwing a brief tantrum.  
Tseng waved all the other Turks out, indicating that they should get out into Edge quickly before Reno kills anyone else.

"I'm sorry Mr. President. But in official Turk laws, we must terminate any threat to the ShinRa Empire…just like we had to gun down all those other failed experiments. Reno isn't one of us anymore…he isn't human…so it's only fitting that we do this." Tseng explained.  
Rufus just sat in his chair, clasping his head in his hands in frustration, before Tseng finally took his leave.

"Why did I choose to go through with this!?" Rufus questioned in anger.  
---

"…okay Cait, talk." Cloud requested.

"I thought you'd never ask me! Rufus has been working on new science-related ideas for ShinRa these past few years, as you already know they are human related." Cait began.

"But what you don't know is that his old man was doing the same project many years back…about 12 years ago? It wasn't that long…wait…maybe it was 15 years? Anyway, it was a while ago! The old president was working on this other project as a back-up for Deep Ground, but nothing was ever made for it…there where just heaps of paperwork and chemicals that where being trialled." Cait added.

"The paperwork dated back about 20 years ago, mentioning that 2 boys where discovered to have odd powers. The ability to create materia without knowing how they did it was one of them; one of the brothers was also born with precognition. Nobody knows which one it was, but the youngest was said to be possessed by a monster. One document says he transformed into something really hideous when him and his brother where attacked by the Midgar Zolom one day, but he didn't transform ever again." Cait Sith added.

"The whole project was to find out how ShinRa could use this array of inhuman powers for SOLDIER, to boost strength and to increase materia production. He said that he planned on using the older brother for one experiment and the younger for another." Cait Sith added.

"Funnily enough, the President told everyone not to tell two people about the project…Reno of the Turks and First Class SOLDIER Kisho. He didn't say why though. But I was told to spy on Reno for 2 months, just to get enough information for Tseng to fire him. I didn't want to, but Tseng said that my job would be on the line as well if I didn't." Cait Sith finished.

"…why would they want to fire Reno? Sure he's a slacker…but he still did some good work for ShinRa." Nanaki questioned, awakening from his nap just in time to catch Cait Sith's explanation.  
Cid coughed suddenly to get everyone's attention, the instant he coughed Yuffie blurts out _'that's what you get for smoking!'_

"For fuck's sake woman! Leave me the hell alone!" Cid snapped before finally getting to the reason why he wanted everyone's attention.

"The monster from that there ShinRa building is hiding somewhere in Edge now, apparently. Think we should help find it?" Cid asked, taking a puff from his cigarette.

"The Turks should be able to handle it. Leave it to them." Cloud answered.  
A scream was suddenly heard from upstairs.  
In an instant, Cloud and the others hurried upstairs to investigate the source of the noise.  
Opening all the doors to the rooms they found nothing, but Vincent opened the attic hatch and took a glance inside, Cerberus at the ready.

"Vincent! Come up here quick!" Denzel cried as he pointed towards a corner of the attic.  
Vincent waved all the other members of the group up, letting them know the source of the noise was up in the attic.  
Once everyone was up in the attic, the light was turned on to its full capacity and Marlene hurried to Barrett in tears. Clinging to him tightly as she cried.  
Shelke just sat opposite the area Denzel was pointing to earlier, staring at whatever was causing the disturbance quietly.  
Vincent and Cloud approached with caution as Denzel was moved aside by Tifa, walking slowly around the masses of boxes that where obstructing their view of whatever was up here.  
When they got to the final corner of the boxes, Cloud and Vincent nodded at each other and quickly drew their weapons towards the disturber.  
Who just happened to be Reno, cowering in the corner…soaking wet from the rain outside and trembling.  
Cloud lowered his weapon, but Vincent maintained his aim on the mortified Reno.

"Reno, what are you doing here?" Tifa asked.  
He didn't answer, only trembled and firmly grasped his swollen left arm.  
Vincent narrowed his eyes and prepared Cerberus for fire, Cloud instantly grasping on to Vincent's arm and slowly shook his head, telling him not to fire just yet.  
Cloud spotted exactly what Vincent did, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions like Vincent was.

"Reno…what….what happened to you?" Cloud questioned.  
Cait Sith pushed in to get a look himself.

"Goodness gracious me! Reno, you have to go back to the ShinRa HQ!" Cait Sith instructed, worried about the obvious pain the ex-Turk was in.

"I can't do that…" Reno answered in a painful tone, hesitating for some time whilst he twitched violently from the pain in his left arm.

"What? Why not!?" Cait Sith questioned.  
Reno just remained silent and twitched violently again, grunting from the pain in his arm as he squeezed it tighter.

"We told him to go home, but he said that 'someone will kill him if he leaves'. Then he started to dribble words to himself." Shelke explained.

"How long has he been here?" Barrett asked Marlene, who had stopped crying.

"A…about an hour…" she sniffed.

"Actually…he said he'd been up here for 2 hours." Shelke added.  
Reno started to twitch and then screamed out his brothers' name again, before shuddering violently and curling up into the corner even more. Crying and muttering something about the Turks and betrayal.  
_  
_"He's out to get me…" Reno whimpered.

"Yep…he's just been slumped in that corner for hours like that, just keeps saying something about 'somebody is out to get him'." Denzel explained.  
Vincent narrowed his eyes again and glances down at the trembling ex-Turk; he was very pale and wouldn't stop repeating himself…his eyes remained the cat-like blood red eyes from earlier, and Vincent knew that Reno's eyes where supposed to glow the vibrant blue of tainted Mako.  
But now they seemed to resemble Vincent's.

"Maybe he's finally lost his marbles!" Barrett mocked, before being whacked on the head by Tifa…turning to face her and say 'what did I do!?'

"…out to butcher me…slay me like I did them…" Reno jittered as he began to cry.

"He's scaring the shit out of me…can't we beat him to shut him up!?" Cid asked, cracking his knuckles before smoking again.  
Reno suddenly screamed again, causing everyone but Vincent to move backwards.

"…dark…horrible…blood-feasted visions!!" Reno cried out, shutting his eyes tightly as he grasped his head.  
Cait Sith then remembered hearing about Reno taking a nasty knock to the head, even though all the jittering was getting on his nerves too he knew better than to beat him up over it.

"It could be a mental disorder. Even if we wanted to beat the crap out of him we still couldn't, he's got a head injury after all." Cait Sith answered.  
Cloud folded his arms and shook his head as Reno entered another screaming fit, Tifa escorting the children to somewhere quieter and much more peaceful.  
The gang gathered to discuss what to do next, after all, he refused to go home in fear of being killed…refused to go back to ShinRa HQ in fear of being caught…and he was even too afraid to go downstairs into the bar, in fear of 'repeating the incident earlier'.  
Of course, none of the gang knew Reno was a monster…or did one of them know something? A certain cloaked gun-man?  
What does Vincent know about Reno?

__

**END OF CHAPTER 2.**

AN: LONG CHAPTER! PHEW! And a cliffhanger!! Oh, and a long chapter means a long authors notice and teaser I'm afraid…  
Easy to say, this is like an Alternate Universe! But it's not. It's an excuse to make Reno dark and introduce the 'Vincent Factor' to another Turk.  
Because I like that!! Lol.  
And 'Kisho' is my own character, I was going to use someone who already existed…like…I don't know…someone from Deep Ground, but then I thought hard about it and wanted to make my own character.  
It makes the story more interesting too, and I have future plans for Kisho.  
By the way, his name is Japanese for 'One who knows his own…'

Thanks for the reviews!! Keep them coming, alright? The more I get, the bigger/better the chapters will be!

Here's da teaser, yo!

**Teaser for next chapter**

_"I knew you'd come here."_

"You did? Hmph…I thought you never checked you phone for messages."

"I knew you'd be here, waiting for me…I saw it…in a dream."

"A dream…"

"Yeah…it was a horrible dream. He told me to do the most terrible things, yo."

"Really? What did he say?"

"He told me to hunt down and kill those who set me up…then go out and finish what we started, yo."

"Ahh, yes…finish what we started."

"Yeah…to finish him off…settle the age-old battle…and the rest of the things we thought of…but you know…I don't think I can do it."

"You're still not awake then. Until you let the beast out, you will remain in slumber and will never be able to help finish what we started."

"That fight was a fluke, yo. I can't do that again…I don't want to do that again. It was a dream, bro…a dream thought up by kids."

"Shut up! You're lying!"  



	3. A Brothers Blood Pact

--**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or its characters/locations. I only own this idea and Kisho. Don't flame me, or I'll report you and do horrible tests on you too.-- 

**AN: I hate fanfiction (dot) net sometimes…with it's small summary boxes and 'request timed out' messages when you try to submit a new chapter for your story…full of bugs…anyway, enough ranting.  
I can guarantee lots of you will hate me for making Kisho, but he's better than throwing Zack into this thing…for some reason people like having Zack reappear as a physical being in their stories.  
I, personally, don't know enough about his personality to write about him.  
Plus, I sort of saw Reno as being a little brother to someone…and we don't know much about him. So…MEH!  
Thanks for the reviews:)**

**The Fall & Rise of Reno of The Turks**

**Part 3: A Brothers' Blood Pact**

_  
_  
_"Within the holy deity a dark spirit lurks.  
As does a light spirit lurk within the dark deity.  
Holy and Meteor.  
Together they serve all.  
But on their own, destruction is call they cause._

The yin cannot exist without the yang.  
Nor can the yang exist without the yin.  
They cannot exist without one another.  
Or their powers will fail.  
The same can be said for the two powers.

Soul wrought of Terra corrupt.  
The might of Omega and the fury of Chaos.  
Tied together in servitude.  
A mighty race holds the key.  
To gather and unite all powers into one.

Meteor and Chaos, Holy and Omega.  
Brought together as one, the dark hell-bringer _**Seibutsu **__will judge all__."_

A young-adult version of Kisho, who was sat merrily on top a hill wearing his SOLDIER gear, continued to chant the song as he brushed his hands through the rougher grass surrounding Midgar.  
The crunching of footsteps on the dying grass caused the young adult to tilt his head back and glance at whoever was behind him, a warm smile on his face once he found out who had approached him.

_"Still singing that song mom told us?" _a young adult version of Reno laughed, sitting beside his brother with his new Turk gear on…a black rucksack leaning over one of his shoulders.

_"Mom always told us never to forget that song, you know why?" _the young Kisho asked, lying on his back to gaze up at the clear sky.__

"Because granddad said exactly the same to her…" Reno sighed heavily, brushing a hand through his shaggy red hair.  
Young Kisho shot up in a flash and ruffled up his younger brothers' hair in a teasing manner, before laughing at him as he tried to brush it back again.__

"No, it's not just that! Have you ever listened to the whole thing? This woman called Lucre…wait…I forgot her name…oh well. Anyway, she talks about Omega and Chaos in this report file I hacked. She goes on about how one day this demon Chaos is going to end all life and then Omega is going to take us into space…or something like that. Anyway, the song mentions them both…and then is says something about an old race, much older than the ancients, being able to merge the powers of good and evil into one. Saying that no matter which you merge you get the same being." Young Kisho explained in a really hyperactive tone, not once pausing for a breath.  
Reno raised an eyebrow at his brother, who only just remembered to breathe, in confusion…before chuckling as he spoke.__

"…Not only did you say that _really__ fast but it's also a load of rubbish if you ask me, bro. And…wait a minute, you've been hacking into the science project files!?" _Reno began in the laughing matter, but quickly became serious once he heard his brother was HACKING SHINRA DATA!__

"I knew you would say that! And yeah, I've been doing a bit of spying! Did you know they have really detailed records on us both!? And OH MY GOD they sound so cool and…and…" Young Kisho began.  
Reno gave off that really confused expression again as his brother continued to ramble on and on, not making much sense of anything other than…__

"Blah blah blah blah"  
Just as young Reno was about to whack his brother with his brand new beating stick, the entire image distorted as someone disturbed the 'dream'…which was really a flashback. __

"WAKE UP!"  
----

Reno sat upwards, panting heavily as somebody just shook him about senselessly…obviously not giving a damn about how important sleep was to him right now.  
The ex-Turk rubbed his face with both of his hands tiredly, was everything a dream?  
In mid-rub of his face, Reno stopped and looked at his hands…the left hand was showing feint signs of blackness and red tiger-like stripes, with elongated claw-like fingernails.  
His right hand was completely normal, however.  
Turning to face the person who woke him up, Reno was quite surprised to see Yuffie and Vincent beside the bed eying him angrily.  
Reno looked around nervously, quite unsure of why everyone was so upset.

"Um…what up, yo?" Reno questioned in a nervous tone, laughing afterwards.  
Vincent approached with his weapon fully loaded, pointing it directly at Reno in that typical 'I always look depressed and want to start a fight' kind of way.

"We where just going to ask you that! What is up with you!?" Yuffie laughed.

"I…I don't know…" Reno whimpered.  
Vincent eyed Yuffie as she began cracking her knuckles.

"You may have just woken up and you may have a head injury, but that doesn't mean we can't get a few answers from you. Now talk." She growled.

"Whoa guys, let's just settle down now!" Reno cowered.

"Still a damn fucking wuss!" Cid snorted as he kicked the door wide open.  
The trio seemed to be trying their best to intimidate Reno enough to get the answers they wanted, but they obviously where not going to get the very first question answered…because Reno really didn't know the answer to it.

"I don't know what's up with me! I just woke up in a lab with pains and headaches, yo…then some freaky stuff happened and I…I got scared and ran away." Reno answered, still cowering.

"Maybe you can tell us exactly what the 'freaky stuff' was…" Yuffie mocked.  
Reno was speechless; he didn't want to get caught out this quickly.  
But even though two members of AVALANCHE where towering over him, Vincent Valentine was keeping his distance, Cerberus in its holding place and not in his hand anymore.

"Pestering him will only cause us pain. I suggest we leave him." Vincent blurted out.  
He then remembered why he came up to see the ex-Turk to begin with, asking him the simple question of 'why he quit the Turks and what happened to him'.  
Reno explained everything he could, without giving away that he killed all those people in the ShinRa building.  
But unfortunately for him, Cait Sith suddenly re-activated (he was hitching a ride on Cid for once) after Reeve took some time off to find out what just happened at ShinRa.

"Yipes, Reno! I knew you would be upset after the experiments and everything, but you didn't have to go psycho and kill everyone! And why did you let your brother out!?" Cait Sith whined, only then just remembering the others where in the room too.

"You mean this skinny punk actually lost it and killed some ShinRa staff!?" Cid questioned.

"He has a brother!?...is he cute?" Yuffie giggled.  
Cid coughed at Yuffie and told her to shut up again, before asking Reno about his brother.

"I…I can't say anything about him…and I don't remember letting Kisho out, I didn't even know he was in the ShinRa building! All I know is that he went missing 2 weeks ago!" Reno answered.

"Reno, everyone at ShinRa knows that he was tricked into thinking he was on a mission to Nibelheim, to catch someone known as 'G'…but instead he was captured and used as a test subject like you. So you should know, right?" Cait Sith questioned.

"I don't know anything about that, yo! I was told he went missing and was dead…I…I didn't know anything…why didn't they tell me!?" Reno whined, before holding his head in agony.

"Whiney little---!!!" Cid cursed.  
Cait Sith sighed heavily before shaking his head, Yuffie folding her arms and shaking her head as well.  
Vincent remained silent throughout, simply gazing at Reno's mutated arm and watching how much he clenched it and squeezed it. Looking at his left metal-clawed hand too before looking at Reno's arm again, a sharp growling sound came from the gun-man as he clenched his left fist and glared angrily at the depressed Reno.

"I guess I have no choice then." Vincent huffed angrily before quickly drawing Cerberus, aiming directly towards the still worried Reno.

"Vincent, what are you doing!?" Yuffie whined as she tried to stop Vincent firing at the ex-Turk, who was still slightly drowsy from his disturbed slumber.

"Eliminating a threat, now stand aside." Vincent answered as he shook Yuffie from his arm.  
He quickly fired right next to the ex-Turk, but as soon as the gun-man pulled the trigger something inside Reno flared up.  
His eyes glowed the crimson red from before as his reflexes kicked in, he dodged the shot with tremendous ease and leaped off the bed and onto the floor, his demonic left hand spread out across the wooden flooring whilst the right remained up and clenched angrily.  
Reno started to growl again, but as the light from the sun outside shone through the window and into his face he slowly returned back to the cowering little Reno we all know and love.  
Well, most of us anyway.

"I should have known." Vincent muttered before putting Cerberus away.  
The entire gang all stared at Reno in awe, baffled by the display they just saw.  
Vincent approached Reno and aided him up, before patting him on the shoulder gently and leaving the room in silence.  
The ex-Turk was trembling again and didn't respond to anything the troublesome duo of Cid and Yuffie did to get him to do that same 'trick' again, instead he just screamed in terror and held his head…telling someone to 'leave him alone an stop invading his dreams'.  
The flashes appeared before Reno's eyes again, along with pulsating noises in the back of his head.  
Only now there where sounds of a child whispering multiple phrases and words…the child's voice echoed over the words they said, so it was difficult for Reno to make any sense of it all.  
But the voice sounded just like his missing brother, Kisho.

_Silence.  
__**"He sleeps inside of you!"**__  
No more fear.  
__**"I won't let you take my brother from me!"  
**__To feel comfort you must feel pain.  
__**"Don't listen to them!"**__  
Shadows within the remains.  
__**"RUN!"  
**__The dark hell-bringer.  
__**"18 years; then we will commence with the project!"  
**__He lurks within.  
__**"Brother, I will find you! Just keep fighting---" **__  
North cave._

The North Cave, the one word out of all the dribble that made sense to him.  
The pain faded away as one flash of light blinded Reno's sight of the real world…an image of the City of The Ancients appeared before his eyes, before zooming down to the lake where Aerith was laid to rest.  
3 dark figures where stood looking down into the water, all dressed in black 'medieval' trench coats.  
One of the figures turns around to reveal Kisho, the exact age he was when he went missing 2 weeks ago.

_"They are here, brother."_

The flash of light dims down and Reno is brought back to the real world, only to be scared out of his wits as Yuffie appears right before his face and growls at him.

"W-what the hell do you want, kid!?" Reno growled back.

"I'm no kid! Anyway, Vincent left angrily and Cloud kept telling us to tell you that some guy came over and said…um…what was it again?" Yuffie explained, getting confused as she began to speak very fast as she usually did.

"Some guy wanted to meet up with you at The City of The Ancients, just by North Cave. We couldn't see is face though, the guy was a fuckin' hoody! Anyway, Vince has gone ahead to check things out…you need a ride there?" Cid cursed.  
Reno rubbed his tired eyes with his _normal_ hand, before blinking at Cid in a confused manner…as if he didn't understand what he was saying.  
Cid just cursed under his breath at how 'stupid kids where getting'.  
----

Vincent had gone ahead, he was sat on a broken tree looking across the same lake Aerith was placed in. Muttering to himself, questioning and thinking up possible answers.

"Why him…" Vincent muttered, the silence being most suitable for anyone who wished nothing more than to think in peace.  
But the silence surrounding him was disturbed by the gentle footsteps of another person.  
Turning his gaze slowly to the direction behind him, Vincent was too slow to react to the being that quickly dashed towards him and knocked him out.  
----

The newly repaired Shera ship landed just outside the City of The Ancients, the whole AVALANCHE group on board, mainly just to make sure Vincent came back safe…he did leave without saying a word, and he looked very angry about something.  
But what was he so upset about?  
That was why Cloud and the others decided to come along with Reno, who didn't want to leave…but he got forced into it by a very grumpy Cid, who obviously had one too many beverages at the bar.  
It showed when he flew the damn airship here whilst Reno told everyone about what happened in the ShinRa building; it didn't help that Cid was flying all over the place like a madman though.  
Yuffie did very well not to throw up.  
Everyone departed and approached the same place where the lake was, only to find that Vincent wasn't anywhere to be seen…and all that was left of his presence was the chain from his Cerberus gun, broken and lying on the floor beside the fallen tree.  
Cloud approached and picked the chain up, before clenching his fist and getting to his feet.

"I bet this was going to be an ambush set up for you, Reno." Cloud said, placing the chain into his pocket.

"The stuck up jerks that set me up, planned to do it again, yo? I can't wait to beat them…just you wait, I'll kick their asses for what they put me through." Reno growled.  
Yuffie entered a panicking fit once it became apparent that Vincent had gotten whatever Reno was supposed to get; a possible ambush that was meant to kill.

"You don't think the Turks killed him, do you!?" Yuffie cried, falling backwards and into Tifa's arms, who looked just as worried as everyone else.  
Reno placed his left hand onto his head as he too, looked slightly stunned…until he flinched from the pain of the claw-like fingernails digging into his head, removing the hand the instant he felt them sinking into his skin.  
That was when Vincent fell from a nearby tree and aimed his gun directly behind Reno's head.

"Move, and I'll shoot." Vincent warned, everyone else sighing with relief before hurrying over to the gun-man to check and see if he was alright.  
He then explained that he was just gathering information, sat down to make sense of what he found, before someone dressed in black ambushed him from behind.  
Vincent said that when he came through mysterious person had already left without taking or doing anything.

"All I remember is hearing him mention something about Chaos, but you want to know something that I think was very strange?" Vincent began.  
Everyone, but Reno who was still being aimed at, listened in anticipation.

"I managed to get a glimpse of him before he knocked me out, he looked very familiar…and until a few minutes ago I thought he was just a passer-by…but now that I can see the resemblance, I am certain…" Vincent added as he glanced directly at Reno, the same angry expression on his face as he looked at the red-haired ex-Turk.

"Reno couldn't have attacked you, he was with us all the way here…" Yuffie blurted out, oblivious to the point Vincent was trying to make.  
Tifa gave a solid whack to the Ninja's head to keep her quiet, as she continued to drabble on over how Vincent was making things up to get some attention for once.

"…It was your brother, Reno…" Vincent muttered, making sure that the tone of anger in his voice made the ex-Turk feel that bit more intimidated…obviously Vincent was building up pressure on Reno the easy way so he could get more information out of him, shouting at the red-head never works to it's full potential, but speaking quietly, but angrily, works very well.  
Especially if you have a gun pointed at their head.

"You're hiding something from us, Reno." Vincent huffed, narrowing his eyes.

"What makes you think that, yo? I've told you everything you wanted to know; told you about what that whacked up scientist put me through and I even told you about how much I crave revenge…if that's not good enough, I don't know what is, yo." Reno said in a panic, trying as hard as he could to keep his cool.

"As soon as I laid my eyes on you, I knew something was wrong…something was different about you, not just your eyes…not just your arm…" Vincent began as he prepared Cerberus for fire, a mellow and cold look in his eyes.

"Whoa, man! Why are you getting so edgy!?" Reno cowered, trying his best not to make a fool out of himself.  
Well, anymore than he already had done; he was forced to wear some old ShinRa SOLDIER gear that Cloud had once they had to leave the bar, after all, before he was just wearing torn pants and a ripped vest.  
Someone was also kind enough to set his hair back into the ponytail, well combed back from the horrible mess it was in when he became…that _thing_.

"…but I can sense something more…you know something important that the others don't…and it's something that I want confirming from you. Tell me right now, or I'll blow a hole in your head." Vincent warned, narrowing his eyes even more.

"Whoa! Anything, man! I'll say whatever you want! Just don't shoot me, yo!" Reno cowered again, making a 'time-out' sign with his hands.

"You know about the dark hell-bringer, the storm followed by the onslaught…tell me everything you know about the Fukumaden Clan and Seibutsu." Vincent demanded.  
Everyone just raised their eyebrows once Vincent mentioned those two names…nobody had ever heard of them before, and why didn't Vincent mention anything like this earlier? Back when they questioned Reno?

"They're just part of some crummy story, man! One our mom kept telling us! Honest!" Reno answered, smiling nervously…hoping the gun-man would lay off after retrieving that pitiful excuse for an explanation.  
Vincent was not satisfied.

"…just a story?...where Omega and Chaos 'just a story'? What about the battle against Sephiroth, was that 'just a story' as well? You're hiding something---" Vincent began to raise the pressure on Reno, but before he could apply anything else to the cowering ex-Turk…a dark figure appeared and cloaked him in shadow, before slowly drifting into the ground like a dark fog.  
Reno was gone in an instant.

"I knew it!" Vincent hissed quietly, the other members of the gang constantly asking Vincent what he knew…but he just stayed silent, doing nothing more than search the area immediately to find the ex-Turk and whoever took him away.  
They couldn't have gotten far.  
----

The dark fog drifted out of the ground gently, some distance away from the lake, to reveal a tired and sore Reno on his knees…grasping his left arm in pain.  
The fog gathered together and formed a figure, the same figure that attacked Vincent a little while ago.

"Who where they?" the figure asked in an emotionless tone, his back still facing the struggling Reno.

"J-just…some old friends…ghg…" Reno answered back, still suffering a grate amount of pain from his left side.  
The figure turned around slowly and cast a cure spell on Reno, instantly healing him of his pains.

"Your body is still fighting him, isn't it?" the figure questioned in a slightly happy tone, but they still seemed pretty emotionless.

"He was nothing but an illusion, bro." Reno answered as he got to his feet, panting lightly as he adjusted the sleeves of the SOLDIER uniform.

"I see one of those 'friends' use to be in SOLDIER…might I ask what rank they where in?" Kisho questioned, now turning to completely face his younger sibling.

"First class, apparently." Reno chuckled, remembering how depressed Cloud would get over the whole 'I was in SOLDIER, but I wasn't' thing.

"My best friend use to be in first class." Kisho sighed happily, still sounding quite emotionless. **(Okay, you get it now. Kisho sounds pretty emotionless, but that doesn't mean he can't sound a little happy or sad…he can get very angry!)**

"You kept telling me in your letters, yo. But you do know he's dead now, right?" Reno answered back, sounding a little sarcastic.  
Kisho wasn't paying any attention though.

"It's such a shame that he had to cling to that little worm called Cloud…he so dearly paid for protecting him. What I wouldn't give to drive my blade through his scrawny little body, just so he could feel the same pain as I did when Zack was taken from me." Kisho continued.

"Yo man, get over it! Cloud is probably going to kill himself with the way he's living right now, just don't get involved…you did really well to stay hidden from him, so keep it that way. That last thing we want is for you to cause another fight, yo." Reno answered back.

"Okay…" Kisho answered as he rubbed the back of his head with a gloved left hand, before using a metal-coated right hand to point at Reno's mutated arm.

"They got you too?" Kisho asked in a very upset tone.  
Reno sighed heavily before nodding.

"Did he wake up? Anyone get hurt or…killed?" Kisho asked in the same tone from before.  
Reno nodded before tapping a finger onto his own lips, telling his brother to keep it a secret.

"So…did you get my message? Or did you…" Kisho began in a slow and curious tone, before being interrupted by Reno.

"I knew you'd come here." He answered instantly.

"You did? Hmph…I thought you never checked you phone for messages." Kisho mocked, remembering all the times he sent Reno a message…but never got a reply.  
Then he recalled the one time he thought Reno replied, but instead it turned out to be Rude just telling him not to bother with the phone anymore.

"I knew you'd be here, waiting for me…I saw it…in a dream." Reno added in a slightly emotionless tone, a depressed expression on his face as he rubbed the mutated left arm…the clawed fingertips twitching in irritation.

"A dream…" Kisho repeated.  
Reno shook his head quickly after realizing he was starting to sound just like his brother; cold and emotionless…and those where one of the many things he never wanted to become.

"Yeah…it was a horrible dream. He told me to do the most terrible things, yo." Reno added as his depressed expression molded into one of disturbance. Obviously he was afraid of remembering what happened in the alleged 'dream' he had.

"Really? What did he say?" Kisho asked out of curiosity, his metal-claw like right hand twitching much like Reno's was. **(Call him a Vincent wanna-be, you don't know what I'm planning! HAHA!)**

"He told me to hunt down and kill those who set me up…then go out and finish what we started, yo." Reno answered, looking towards the floor before back at his brother, who was gazing up at the night sky chuckling.  
Kisho hummed to himself as he stroked his blue spiked hair with his left hand, before gazing down towards his brother again to repeat what was just said.

"Ahh, yes…finish what we started." He repeated.  
Reno's left eyelid started to twitch, almost as if he was irritated, but he seemed to be just fine.  
A black 'teardrop' formed out of the corner of the left eye, before it trailed down his cheek and dripped off his chin…the blackness it left behind dried instantly and left an almost 'tattooed' like mark on his face.

"Yeah…to finish him off…settle the age-old battle…and the rest of the things we thought of…but you know…I don't think I can do it." Reno added.  
Kisho brushed his elongated fringe from his face to reveal similar black 'tear-trail' tattoo markings, along with three black 'scratch-like' tattoos down both eyes…his eye colour was bright red too, with a sharp yellow glow…black around the outside of his eye-colour, much like a demons eyes would appear.

"You're still not awake then. Until you let the beast out, you will remain in slumber and will never be able to help finish what we started." Kisho answered.  
There was a long pause, followed by the feint sounds of Cloud shouting to the other members of the party that he hadn't found anything.

"That fight was a fluke, yo. I can't do that again…I don't want to do that again. It was a dream, bro…a dream thought up by kids." Reno hesitated before saying that last sentence, he knew his brother would be hurt by that…but he didn't want to go through the trauma of what happened when the Midgar Zolom attacked them when they where kids, or when he became enraged and lost control in the ShinRa building.

"Shut up! You're lying!" Kisho cried, clenching his left fist angrily before shaking it towards his brother.  
Kisho was still like a sensitive boy, unlike Reno who would just feel insulted and rebel against whoever upset him.

"Bro, we can't wake him up EVER again. If we do, then who knows what will happen. I could only just control the fight that day; I'm not as strong as I use to be." Reno explained.  
Kisho regained control of himself before making a joke out of what Reno just said.

"You're saying that you're weaker now than when you where 6!?" Kisho laughed.

"Shut the hell up, man. I'm physically stronger now, but I could only control the monster when I was a kid because I was still…just a child, y'know." Reno answered back, sounding a little disappointed in himself as he spoke.  
Suddenly a gunshot was heard, followed by the arrival of Vincent and the others.  
Kisho leapt in front of his smaller brother and spread out his arms in a protecting manner, the ex-Turk only just realizing what happened.

"Kisho…so the rumors where true." Vincent muttered as he loaded Cerberus with a fresh magazine and round of bullets, Cloud stood by his side with his sword drawn and ready for combat.

"I won't let you hurt my brother!" Kisho roared as his two double-ended swords magically appeared in his hands, taking up a defensive stance in front of the much smaller (and unarmed) Reno.

"Who said we where going to hurt him?" Cloud answered back.  
Kisho's eyes widened after finally realizing Cloud was stood in front of him, wielding a sword much like Zacks.

"YOU! You're that skinny punk who got my best pal killed!" Kisho roared angrily.

"I have a name you know, you big ape. It's Cloud Strife, and I don't remember killing anyone's friends…especially ones that are connected with you." Cloud answered back.  
Pretty soon the pair began yelling verbal abuse at one another, throwing curses and insulting names…until Cloud had to open his mouth about how much of a lousy brother Reno must have been.  
Before Kisho could smash Cloud right there and then, Vincent fired Cerberus at the sky to make them shut up, his clawed hand on his hip as he shot the gun with his eyes shut in a 'napping' manner.

"You can settle personal arguments later…and if nobody else has noticed, the one in question is acting up again." Vincent said, pointing a metal-clawed hand in the direction of Reno and Kisho, causing the giant brother to turn around and see Reno on his knees…struggling to breathe, clasping his chest as he attempted to suck in as much air as possible.

"He's faking it!" Yuffie whined, her hands on her hips.

"You ever saw this kind of behavior before?" Vincent asked Cloud, whom lowered his weapon to examine the oddity in Reno.  
Cloud gulped before shaking his head nervously, sweating a little after it became apparent that Reno was not faking it.  
Kisho knelt down quickly and placed his hands on his brothers' shoulders, Reno tilting his head backwards slightly as he started to violently twitch in pain…almost as if he had just had a seizure and was gasping for air.

"Stop fighting him, brother! Let him out!" Kisho yelled at his brother, shaking him lightly to get some form of response.  
But Reno just started to groan as the pain suddenly jolted back into his arm, his breathing pattern returned to normal…until the burning sensation of Mako flowing through his veins…the high-blood pressure and heart rate…the headache all returned to him.  
Falling out of his brothers grasp and onto the floor, Reno began to hyperventilate as he squeezed his left arm…rolling around and curling up as the unknown source of pain continued to attack him from within.  
His left arm; now a blue/black in colour, began strengthening in tone as his pain and suffering dwindled on, a purple/black smoke started to emit from the mutated arm as it made burning sounds, blood red tiger-stripe like markings glowing on it's surface.  
Reno shrieked in agony, his cry in pain causing everyone in the immediate area to slam their hands over their ears before the burning of his arm finally stopped…as did the cries of pain.  
In fact, Reno suddenly collapsed and began to twitch again, unable to respond to anything…he didn't seem aware that he was on the floor, he didn't even start breathing.  
It was as if the lethal Mako injection took it's time to finally destroy Reno's body.

"It looks like…Mako poisoning…!?" Tifa said in a slightly worried tone.

"We don't know that." Vincent blurted out.

"No way, man. This is the real shit! I remember seein' Cloud like this, only red-head here looks much worse. It's certainly Mako poisonin'." Barrett reinforced Tifa's idea, causing Cloud to instantly spring into alert mode.  
There's nothing worse than Mako poisoning, especially a fate tied to it.  
He knew many people who died from just a small overdose in their Mako Injection, and he didn't like remembering the images he saw of their deaths.  
He didn't want to see it again; no matter how much of a jerk Reno was, it was a fate he most certainly did not deserve.

"If that's the case, we have to take him back to ShinRa and see if he stabilizes. Quickly!" Cloud suggested, turning to Cid and asking him to prepare the Shera for departure immediately.  
Vincent and Cloud approached Kisho and Reno, but couldn't get past the hulking elder brother…who was hugging his younger siblings upper-body and head to his chest, constantly telling himself that 'Reno was just pretending, like he use to'.

"Kisho, if we don't get Reno to the ShinRa HQ soon he'll die." Vincent informed.  
Kisho didn't look at either of them, he just held his much smaller brother close as he tried to cry…but the experiments done to him where so terrible, that he couldn't shed a single drop of the 'sorrowful' liquid from his eyes.

"No, it's not what you think!! He's not sick! He's just pretending! Like he use to!" Kisho cried.

"If you keep thinking that, then he'll never wake up." Vincent said.  
The blue-haired test-subject snarled angrily before laying his brother down onto the floor, onto his back, before growling at Vincent and the others.

"If you're taking him back to that hell-hole, then I better prepare him for the worst…" the giant growled.  
Vincent narrowed his eyes before making a confused grunting sound, Cloud nodding as he usually does after thinking the giant was just going to arm his brother with a weapon.  
But he was about to receive something far better than a weapon…

"Brother! I won't let them take you from me!" Kisho roared as he ripped off Reno's shirt, desperate to revive his brother and re-start his breathing he raided his entire special 'item pockets' to find the object he was looking for.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Tifa cried out before trying to stop the giant from causing any harm to Reno.  
But Vincent stopped her; he knew that Kisho wouldn't dream of bringing any harm onto his little brother.  
Cloud then ordered the others to get to the Shera right away, since when they got Reno in that thing they'd be heading right to ShinRa HQ without any delay.  
Kisho finally found a clear, white piece of materia that had a cloud-like fog within it…it was a tiny bit larger than standard materia and it was no bigger than a marble to Kisho.  
The experiments really did take their toll on the once 'almost identical' brother of Reno's, now the two looked so different…possibly because of age and the brutal tests done on Kisho.

"What materia is that?" Cloud questioned as the giant gave the pair a sinister smirk.

"I'm just returning something to my brother, a treasure he gave me when we made our pact 18 years ago…he knows what it does…" the giant chuckled evilly, before patting his almost lifeless brothers head.  
The giant then jammed the materia right into Reno's chest, causing the wound where he had his previous operation to reopen and he ex-Turks vital blood supply to leak out.  
The crimson liquid stained his brother's muscular hand along with what the giant now held in his hand; a shard of Protomateria, trapped inside a glass ball with a metal rim to keep it sealed shut.  
The words 'E2-11' where inscribed onto the metal rim, and Kisho easily picked it up and tossed it to Vincent…the tennis-ball sized sphere still covered in Reno's blood was caught in the gun-mans metal claws with ease.

"You wanted answers, Valentine…there's your first clue. Now fix my brother, or I'll crush you both right now." Kisho growled, cracking his knuckles as a threat.  
Reno's blood started as a normal red, but once it came into contact with the air it turned black…was this another sign of Mako poisoning? Or was something more sinister at work?  
Cloud quickly hurried over to the badly wounded and presumably 'poisoned' red-head, perfectly capable of carrying him in both his arms because he was so small.  
In the past 7 years after Deep Ground, Reno stopped growing and actually became more like a child…where as Cloud was the exact opposite.  
Hurrying to the Shera with the injured Reno in his arms, Cloud could feel the ex-Turks heart racing and hear his very weak gasps for air.  
Vincent followed shortly after, turning back to look at Kisho for a second only to see he had vanished.  
Would Reno survive the trip? And what exactly was this mysterious 'cloud materia' Kisho impaled his brother with?  
And what is this 'monster' and 'plan' the brothers' keep talking about?

__

**END OF CHAPTER 3****.**

AN: Another long one! Well, fairly…I'm too nice to you people!  
THE SUSPENSE! AHHH!!!  
Hehehe…anyway, thanks for the reviews!! Let's keep it up and try to continue writing this thing together!

Here's my generous dosage of your teaser!

**Teaser for next chapter**

_"One, two, three…CLEAR!"_

"No good, he's not responding!"

"Ready…CLEAR!"

"This is all so very strange…why would Kisho do such a thing to his own brother?"

"You're worrying too much over it Vincent, and besides…we have to try and help Reno get through all this before we start questioning his brothers actions. I don't want to see someone else get killed because of ShinRa again."

"We're loosing him!"

"Stay with me! Come on, stay with me!...CLEAR!"

"No pulse…no heartbeat…yet he's breathing normally again and the wound no longer exists. Tell me, Cloud…are those a sign of Mako poisoning?"

"…now that you mention it…no…"

"…and you want to know what else is strange…"

"Hm?"

"…the darkness on his left arm…it seems to be spreading…"

  
__


	4. Reno's Dark Secret

--**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or its characters/locations. I only own this idea and Kisho. Don't flame me, or I'll report you and do horrible tests on you too.-- 

**AN: Nothing much, just a thank you for your supportive and wonderful reviews! I couldn't carry on without them! ;)  
I'm VERY busy with college at the moment, I'm making a full adult-sized mascot outfit and it's really hard work! So expect delays!**

And sorry about all the weird time-lapses and stuff…my maths is terrible, so if all my counting is right, Reno should be about 33 in this story.  
Yeah, he's getting old…but I think I miscounted…so try to ignore all that.

Here's a long chapter for all those who waited!

**The Fall & Rise of Reno of The Turks**

**Part 4: Reno's Dark Secret**

  
18 years ago…

Inside the ShinRa building; a new set of recruits where being tested for their final administration to the Turks (or to some, SOLDIER).  
This test was very simple, it involved an easy set of questioning to learn more about the individual…possibly for any future usage in ShinRa outside of the Turks.  
The tests took part in the main ShinRa laboratory, managed by head of the Turks Tseng and chief of science Hojo.  
A young Reno was sat in a single chair, an old text book resting on his lap as he looked nervously towards the pair in front of him…who where sat at a desk together reading through Reno's application form and 'physical' test results.  
The room was Hojo's office, everything a sterile white or cloudy grey in colour.  
The only thing vibrant in the room was Reno's flaming-red hair, and Tseng's Turk uniform.  
Reno was wearing a light grey 'hospital' outfit; after all, he had just finished receiving his check up and physical examination.  
If he passed this test, he'd go right on to getting his Mako injection.  
Reno kept his head low and looked up towards the pair as they whispered to each other, looking at them anxiously awaiting a positive answer to his application.

_"Well, you passed the physical with flying colours…we just have a slight concern with a few readings in your energy output, basically the readings say you're mentally unfit for this kind of job." _Hojo explained as he examined a long sheet of paper with Reno's entire test results imprinted upon it, Tseng glancing directly at the applicant as if to judge how he responded.  
Reno just looked away nervously and cursed, obviously thinking this meant he was never going to get in.

_"However…we have a few records on you from when you tried to apply for SOLDIER…apparently the examiner said you had a rare talent in the usage of Materia and also where well known for…making Materia. We find this very interesting, perhaps you could tell us a little more about this 'rare talent' of yours?" _Hojo suggested, raising the red-heads hopes a tiny bit.  
Reno perked his head up the instant Hojo revealed his career application wasn't 'completely out the window'.

_"Well…me and my brother…" _Reno began timidly.__

"We do not wish to hear about your brother, tell us about yourself." Tseng interrupted.  
Reno looked away nervously again before clinging tightly to the old book on his lap.__

"But…Kisho has…" Reno protested quietly, lacking the courage to finish his own sentence.__

"Your brother is Kisho? The very same Kisho who's a First Class SOLDIER?" Tseng questioned in a slightly curious tone.__

"Ahh yes…Kisho…he possessed the exact same ability…anyway boy, continue what you where saying before." Hojo requested, twirling his hand towards Reno as if to prompt him to continue.

_"Me and my brother would leave our home with empty pockets when we went out, but sometimes after we did a lot of weightlifting and training we'd find about 5 different pieces of Materia in them. Occasionally we'd find…11 pieces…depending on if we'd done a lot of training…"_ Reno explained in a very timid tone, still nervous about if this had anything to do with him joining the Turks or SOLDIER.

_"…so you'd just find them in your pockets after vigorous training outdoors?" _Hojo questioned, sounding very intrigued by what he just heard.  
Reno nodded as a response before clinging even tighter to his old book, which Tseng took immediate notice of.

_"You seem very attached to that book there…do you like reading?" _Tseng asked.  
Hojo adjusted his glasses before examining how much Reno did cling to that very old book, it was quite big too…maybe a bit bigger than the average Turk textbook…so it must have weighed quite a bit.

_"It's…the only book I've ever read in my life, sir…next to the training manuals…" _Reno answered.  
Hojo immediately became interested in the book, it certainly looked old.  
Not only that, but why did the boy bring it with him to begin with? He also was clinging to it very tightly, almost as if it was bird and he was trying to make sure it didn't fly away.

_"So why have you brought it with you? It looks very old, too old to be a training manual." _Hojo questioned, leaning out of his seat slightly to get a better look.

_"It's been handed down through my family for generations, sir…it has always brought my family good luck…" _Reno answered very shyly.  
Hojo then adjusted his glasses and sat back in his chair in a relaxed manner, Tseng looking towards the scientist as he gave off that same old sinister smile…Hojo really was a spooky man, and even Tseng felt a little nervous when he smiled like that.

_"Ahh…so it's a lucky book then…so tell me, how far back does it date, boy?" _Hojo requested.  
Reno looked at his own feet and thought for a moment, before glancing up nervously again, shaking his head meekly.

_"I've taken it to many people but they can't read it…but everyone in my family can…so I'm not too sure how old it is, sir." _Reno answered.  
Tseng and Hojo quickly began whispering to each other again, Tseng sounding the most confused out of the two…and Hojo sounding the most excited.  
Then again, it's not everyday you heard someone's family is the only one capable of 'understanding an ancient language'.

_"Might I take a look, boy? I have a real knack for old objects analysis." _Hojo requested.  
Reno nodded and timidly handed Hojo the book, the scientist carefully skimming through the pages and looking at it in great interest.  
A very worn-down image inside the old book was the centre of attention to Hojo, the image showed a strange dragon-like monster almost resembling that of Neo-Bahamut.  
Even though the creature was demonic in appearance, it had wings like an angel and the most graceful markings.  
Hojo examined the strange text underneath the drawing, the symbols unlike anything seen before.  
Of course, Hojo would have seen something like this…somewhere.

_"This writing…it looks very similar to that of the ancients…" _Hojo commented in slight surprise _"Are you related to an ancient, boy?" _he questioned.  
Reno shook his head.

_"No, sir. My father is a normal person." _Reno answered.

_"Ahhh, yes…But what of your mother?" _Hojo asked.  
Reno thought for a few minutes and then a display of shock quickly flared onto his face.  
Hojo asked him the question again, but Reno didn't respond…he remained slightly startled by whatever he just thought about.

_"Do not worry, boy! No harm will come to your mother…we just require a little information about your family and its history." _Hojo reassured.  
Reno sighed with relief before clearing his throat.

_"My mother said that she was part of a race, much older than the ancients. A group of people who worshipped the mighty dragonians…Bahamut being one of those they worshipped." _Reno answered.

_"Oh! So she was part of the Fukumaden Clan! That clears a lot up…" _Hojo laughed, closing the book and handing it back to Reno…who instantly clasped to it again.  
Hojo smiled his typical 'sinister smile' again after seeing Reno cling to that book as soon as he got it back.  
Reno eyed the two with caution, aware that if he says or does something stupid he could mess the whole thing up.__

"So…do I get the job?" he asked timidly.  
The scientist whispered to the head of the Turks, who instantly started questioning Hojo over something…almost as if in protest to what the scientist was suggesting.  
Reno looked towards them in a worried manner, obviously wondering what they where discussing.  
Hojo finally took the upper hand over Tseng by shouting at him that 'there is no choice over the decision'.  
Reno quickly cowered, believing that he was going to be rejected for both his applications.  
But Hojo turned to face the red-head in a friendly manner, whilst Tseng was still trying to clear his ears after being yelled at.

_"A marvellous display, indeed…what did you say your name was again?" _Hojo asked in a friendly tone.__

"Reno." The red-head answered timidly.

_"You can stop worrying, Reno! You've got the job!" _Hojo blurted out in laughter.  
The newly appointed Turks face lit up in delight, even though he flunked his mental-capability test he still got in!  
Hojo continued to laugh before instructing Reno to go and get his Mako injection sorted before commencing with the finishing touches of his enrolment.  
Almost falling over in joy, Reno cheered as he left the room.  
Tseng turned to face Hojo angrily.

_"You do realise what you've just done, right!? He's going to do us no good with mental scores that low!"_ Tseng protested.__

"Silence! Have you even thought about what I said!? This boy is the same boy we sent two Turks to investigate years ago! And he just told us he's Kisho's younger brother! Although the boy is clearly stupid, when he's ripened with age ShinRa will benefit greatly from him. I have been eagerly waiting for the day that those two brothers would choose to join ShinRa, ever since I heard about their odd powers I could only speculate their origins…even though the elder brother is wise and kept his mouth shut over his clearly superior heritage over other applicants, young Reno is just like that book he showed me…open and filled with information that would help ShinRa in a scientific form." Hojo explained.__

"What are you suggesting?" Tseng questioned, sounding a little curious to where Hojo was going.__

"What I am suggesting, Tseng…is that once the youngest brother has matured, we can begin the project known as 'Fukubutsu'. For years we have just read small murals about the Fukumaden Clan and Seibutsu, but if we use these boys to our advantage…maybe we can increase Materia productivity and even control their 'weapons within'." Hojo answered.  
The image of the office faded into black, before the laughter of Hojo could be heard.__

**The Weapons…within.**

_"18 years; then we will commence with the project!"_Hojo laughed._  
_------

The darkness faded out into a blinding white light, before moulding into the image of a medical ward.  
Reno was lying on medical bed; an oxygen mask strapped to his mouth, his eyes shut just as if he was sleeping.  
3 medical staff where gathered around him and franticly strapping equipment to Reno to keep him alive as they started wheeling him down the corridor to the emergency ward, his heart rate had plummeted and not a single beat of a his pulse could be felt.  
The signs did not look good.  
One of the chiefs of the medical department scurried over and helped the others get Reno fixed up.

"What have we got!?" the chief asked, getting very worked up over the condition Reno was in.  
Hell, everyone in the department knew and loved Reno. They would hate to see him die like this.

"Open wound in the chest, loss of breathing and heartbeat, major blood loss and a belief of Mako Poisoning." One of the staff answered as they began everything they could to stop Reno from loosing anymore blood from that wound.

"Hurry then, if you don't get him to the Emergency Ward he'll die on the spot! Get him over there!" the chief demanded before leaving the 3 medics to haul Reno into the ward, which was only a few seconds away.

"Yes, sir!" they answered in unison before storming through the door to the emergency ward, the chief of medical staff approached Reeve and the rest of the group who helped haul Reno out of the Shera.  
But just before he could start asking them what the hell happened, someone franticly pushed them aside to get to Reeve and the chief of medics.

"Make way; coming through!" yelled a familiar voice.

"OWWWW!! You jerk! Cut it out!" Yuffie squealed as the frantic person pushed her out of his way.

"Mr. President!" Reeve and the medic said in unison, looking slightly surprised.  
Rufus was panting quite heavily, he obviously came as quickly as he could once he found out….wait…how did he find out!?

"I'm only doing this because I didn't want Reno to get involved!" Rufus growled at Reeve, trying to regain his breath and cool composure.

"But you said…" Reeve began.

"Shut up, Reeve! I know what I said…and I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I said it! Just remember not to let the Turks find out; otherwise I'll fire all of you!" Rufus interrupted, before turning towards the door where Reno was hauled through…a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Understood, Mr. President!" Reeve and the medic answered.  
Cloud eyed Rufus as if questioning why he cared so much about what happened to Reno, usually he'd just be his smug self and say 'you had it coming' to the red-head whenever he got really beaten up.  
Then again, Reno did look like he was dead.

"You don't say a single word about this to the Professor, the last thing I need is the guilt of anyone else I knows death." Rufus added in a very light tone, trying his best to still sound stern and unaffected by what just happened…but deep down he felt pretty hurt, and it was showing.  
He wasn't just loosing a colleague; he was loosing a close friend.

"How did you know we where bringing him back here?" Reeve questioned, causing Rufus to awaken from his temporary 'sulking session' he was having.

"Oh, I just managed to find another copy of your robotic cat…it makes quite a racket when you forget to switch it off, says everything the one your using says. So it told me you where coming back." Rufus answered in the same light tone, before placing his right hand across his mouth and chin and entered deep thought again.  
Cloud raised an eyebrow in slight amusement, he never saw Rufus this worried other than when they first heard about Meteor being 'unstoppable'.

"…forgive me sir, I had to keep quiet…I couldn't stand back and let someone else suffer." Reeve answered back, looking very ashamed of himself.  
There was a long pause of silence; the chief of medics taking his leave as soon as one of the other members of staff told him to come in and take a look at Reno…apparently his wound had completely healed up on its own.  
But his heart was still not beating, even though his breathing was back to normal again….slightly.  
Rufus broke the silence with a heavy sigh, before scratching his strawberry-blonde head and sighing for a second time.

"Just make sure he doesn't die, I've got a bone to pick with that damn scientist…" Rufus explained before turning around to take his leave, taking notice of the looks Cloud was giving him.

"Yes, sir." Reeve answered looking quite confused over how quiet the president was being.  
The groups' attention quickly jolted towards the room where Reno was being kept, electrical charges could be heard powering up…and Vincent was standing _really_ close to the door. If it opened, he'd get a knock in the face for certain.

"One, two, three…CLEAR!" the chief medic's voice yelled.  
There was a loud shocking sound, followed by the long high-pitched ringing from the heart-monitor.

"No good, he's not responding!" a member of staff cried out.

"Ready…CLEAR!" the chief yelled before applying the charges again to Reno's chest.  
Vincent opened the door slightly to see what was happening, only just able to see Reno all bandaged up and hooked up to a life-preserver machine.

"This is all so very strange…why would Kisho do such a thing to his own brother?" Vincent questioned.  
Cloud approached and took a glance himself, placing a hand onto the gun-mans shoulder before sighing heavily and shaking his head.

"You're worrying too much over it Vincent, and besides…we have to try and help Reno get through all this before we start questioning his brothers actions. I don't want to see someone else get killed because of ShinRa again." Cloud answered before waving the others over to have a listen.

"We're loosing him!" one of the medics cried out after the very small beat of Reno's heart they got faded from them again.

"Stay with me! Come on, stay with me!...CLEAR!" the chief desperately cried out as he applied the charges again.  
Tifa covered her eyes and walked away from the door, trying her best not to cry.  
Cloud approached her, turned Tifa to face him and hugged her gently in support. Although most of them claimed they hated the Turks guts, they would never admit that he made them laugh…and that seeing him in this condition just broke their hearts.  
Well, everyone's but Vincent's. He just continued to look very unaffected by how bleak Reno's condition was looking.

"No pulse…no heartbeat…yet he's breathing normally again and the wound no longer exists. Tell me, Cloud…are those a sign of Mako poisoning?" Vincent questioned as he maintained his gaze through the door.  
Cloud released himself from Tifa and looked at his own shoes, before looking at Vincent again and shaking his head.

"…now that you mention it…no…" Cloud answered.

"…and you want to know what else is strange…" Vincent suggested.

"Hm?" Everyone thought.

"…the darkness on his left arm…it seems to be spreading…" Vincent hesitated before releasing his observation.  
He was right though, the darkness on his arm went up to the shoulder before and ended there…but now it was all down the left side of his torso and left leg…and a small amount was now on the left side of his face.  
It was as if a disease was attacking him, much like the geostigma virus did.

"So…what do you think it is then?" Nanaki asked, pulling himself away from the door after he had seen enough.  
Even Yuffie couldn't take it anymore, she pulled herself away from the door and demanded Cloud gave her support as well.  
But he didn't, he knew better than to let a materia-grabbing ninja get too close to him.

"A demon within him, trying to escape." Vincent interrupted as everyone finally moved from the door, however, the gunman didn't budge…he didn't even look at anyone.  
He just stood there and watched…

"A demon?" Barrett questioned.

"You mean he's some kind of monster!?" Yuffie squeaked.  
That was when Reeve approached from behind the rest of the group, he was the only one who didn't go near the door…probably because he was worried enough seeing him get hauled in there.

"He's nothing more than a member of a dying race, one more powerful and older than the ancients." Reeve blurted out.

"Reeve?" Nanaki questioned, only just remembering the 'cat-man' was with them.

"What in hells name do you know about all this!?" Cid cursed.  
Reeve looked towards Vincent and nodded at him, Vincent returned the same gesture before looking through the door again.

"Back around the battle with Deep Ground, Vincent found a mysterious disc among the records of the Omega report he was putting together. We couldn't access the files until recently, since Vincent only just retrieved the password to Hojo's old database about three weeks ago." Reeve explained.

"Reeve and I have been looking through it, but there's over 20 years worth of information on the database…so we've not even come close to finding out what it's all for." Vincent added, still looking through the door.

"How come you never told us about it!?" Cid barked, clenching his fists and getting very wound up.

"We wanted to make sense of it all first, before telling you. But it looks like we're going to need to explain everything we know now." Reeve answered, looking towards Cloud in particular…with him being the leader and all…

"Oh….well, go on then." Cid as he finally calmed down, throwing himself into a nearby waiting chair and hauling his spear to one side.

"All we do know so far is about an old civilization that Hojo had been doing some research on…a race known only as the 'Fukumaden Clan'." Reeve began.

"Apparently the Ancients and the Fukumaden Clan had been fighting for years, and being more powerful the Clan always came out on top." Reeve added.

"You mean this group was more powerful than the ancients!? Then how come Aerith never mentioned anything about it!?" Barrett growled.

"Probably because the Fukumaden Clan wiped out all the ancients who knew about them in the great battles…that…or perhaps Aerith was too young to learn about how monstrous they where." Reeve explained.

"What's the Fukumaden Clan?? That some kind of club?" Yuffie questioned in a naïve tone, throwing herself into a seat next to Cid…only to get pushed away by the pilot in frustration.

"You could say that." Vincent answered.  
Everyone stayed silent for a while, looking at each other and then towards the door that Vincent was looking through.  
The gunman had crouched down now and opened the door that tiny bit more, just to get a better look.  
It was as if he was observing Reno, monitoring him just in case he awakened suddenly and went all psycho again.  
The feint sounds of the medics complaining about how Reno was so stupid to run away could be heard, along with the constant zapping sounds from the chargers they where using to regain the red-heads heartbeat.

"So Reno was hiding this from us all along…" Cloud broke the silence.  
Vincent looked up at Cloud and shook his head in disappointment before looking through the door again, the blonde narrowed his eyes and folded his arms…wondering why Vincent was so stuck up today. 

"From what the report tells us, Reno didn't know he was part of the Fukumaden Clan at all. He just knew his mother was. And when Reno did transform his mother lied to him, saying it was a monster that tried to possess him. Apparently his mother never wanted him to find out…we don't know why though…the report doesn't go_ that_ deep into Reno's personal life." Reeve explained.  
Cloud returned his attention to Reeve as did everyone else but Cid…who was sleeping soundly on the waiting chair.

"But Reno's older brother, Kisho, was the only one out of the brothers who read the 'ancient tome of the Fukumaden Clan' that his mother gave to them and believed all of it. In the report is says Reno saw it as 'just a story'." Reeve added.  
Yuffie leapt for Cid and forced him to wake up, taking no notice of how angry the pilot was with her now…raising his fist angrily as if he wanted to beat her head in right there and then.

"I still don't know what this 'Fukumaden' thing is!!" Yuffie yelled.  
Vincent shook his head again and stood upright before letting the door close, turning to face everyone once more.  
He must have heard the medics talking about something that eased his concerns.

"The clan is a powerful race, much older than the ancients. They where commonly known for their 'Materia crafting' and monstrous fighting techniques. A vast amount of them have been wiped out by ShinRa after they ran out of control after experiments where done to them to harness their powers, and we stumbled across some of the escapees in North Cave on our quest to defeat Sephiroth…only they had lost their ability to reason and no longer could utilize a human form." Vincent explained.

"You mean they all lost their minds and turned into monsters?" Nanaki asked, taking a seat beside Cid, who actually had smacked Yuffie's head and stunned her.

"Exactly."

"So…they could transform…but why? Who on earth would want to become a monster…I mean, I didn't sense anything abnormal about Reno when we fought him…" Tifa asked herself and then took her place by a wall which she leaned against.

"The Fukumaden Clan all possessed an ability to transform into a dragon-like creature…to act as a servant of Seibutsu; the one who could summon forth a disaster to wipe out all life, or bring a shield to defend us. Basically it was the judge in a court and the Fukumaden Clan where the jury." Reeve answered in a slightly worried tone.

"And other races are the ones on trial." Vincent added.

"Now that the ancients have been wiped out, the remaining members of the Fukumaden Clan will gather together and summon forth Seibutsu to judge _us_ next. We don't know what he'll do, so I suggest we try and tamper with the gathering so we never find out. From what Hojo says in the report, Seibutsu is ruthless…and it controls everything on this planet…because it created all the 'master materia' we have today." Reeve explained before searching his pockets for something, but to no avail. Whatever he was looking for wasn't with him right now.

"Holy and meteor?" Barrett suggested.

"Holy and Meteor where just two out of the 11 pieces of 'master materia' that it made. With Holy lost in the Forgotten City and Meteor gone with Sephiroth, that leaves 9 materia pieces that the clan could still use to summon Seibutsu. I had a list of them all, but I don't remember where I put it…" Reeve explained.

"And if it's summoned, we're screwed…right?" Barrett asked for the confirmation of what he most probably already knew…anything with powers like that would be a huge problem if it was an enemy.

"On a blunt term, yes…so I suggest we head out and find the remaining pieces before any survivors of the clan get to them first, then find out where they are going to gather and tamper with their plans." Reeve answered before searching his pockets again, finding a piece of paper…but with something else written on it.

"Most of the Fukumaden Clan are either inbred or extremely stupid, so tampering with their plans shouldn't be a problem. But there is always one that has the brains to lead them in the right direction, an easy solution would be to hunt down and kill their leader." Vincent explained.  
Reeve had started reading whatever it was he just found in his pocket, a very confused and worried look on his face.

"I second that!" Tifa said, getting excited now that they had a plan to follow.

"It's a good plan and everything, but where the hell would they gather!? We don't know shit about where they'd go!" Barrett raised the most likely issue of any plan…the location of the enemy.  
He had a good point, if they don't know where the enemy is gathering, and then they can't stop them.

"That's the only reason why I want Reno alive, he may not know it now…but once the gathering takes place he'll instinctively know where to go." Vincent answered.

"So we'd use him to find the others! You always come up with crafty shit like this, Vince!" Cid laughed.

"Actually, Reeve suggested we utilise Reno. I only suggested finding the leader and ensuring there is no sense of direction for the Clan." Vincent corrected, before receiving the paper Reeve just read…reading it himself once it became apparent that it was important.

"And…watch your mouth, Highwind…there are kids about you know." Barrett informed the pilot, who just snorted as a response and started chewing on a toothpick.  
**(Smoking is not allowed in the ShinRa building! Ha-ha!)  
**  
"Dammit, I'm not a kid!" Yuffie snapped, finally recovering from her stunned nature.  
Vincent finished reading the paper and looked slightly sickened by what he just read, before handing it back to Reeve instantly…almost as if trying to say he didn't want to read anymore.  
Reeve folded the paper up and tucked it back into his pocket before raising his right hand to ensure everyone knew where he was.

"Anyway, I need to head back to speak with Rufus about this disturbing piece of the report me and Vincent just read. If you still have any questions, I suggest you ask Vincent…it seems Rufus has found a bug in my Cait Sith robots which makes telling you all secret information very risky." Reeve explained before heading towards the elevators.  
Cloud nodded as a form of approval for Reeve before approaching the emergency ward doors.

"You guys just carry on, alright? I'm going to go see how Reno's doing…and I have a feeling he's going to need some sort of protection. I'll be back in a few minutes." Cloud said as he slowly opened the door, turning to face the others as they waved to Reeve.

"Okay, Spiky. Just be careful, alright? We don't know what to expect from him." Barrett said as he waved off Cloud.  
Cloud nodded before entering the emergency ward, unarmed, of course for security reasons.  
They all had their weapon with them, but they couldn't take them into the wards. So Cloud left First Tsuguri **(I can't spell that swords name)** beside the wall Tifa was standing next to.

"So Vincent, I bet you know who's part of this Clan or something…so we shouldn't have any problems hunting them down!" Cid suggested, making punching motions towards Yuffie as if teasing her.  
Vincent shook his head after Yuffie retaliated and whacked Cid, unamused by how childish the pair of them where right now.

"This is a time of crisis. Calm down." Vincent blurted out.  
The pair then remembered what was going on and stopped threatening each other, before Vincent coughed to answer Cid's question.

"It's not that easy to find them…whilst we may have the report on the Clan, no names where listed of who is part of it other than Reno and Kisho's mother. We have no idea who to target." Vincent answered.

"Awww….sh--" Cid began, but then remembered Yuffie was still with them all "…I mean….awww, damn…" he quickly fixed.

"But we're lucky in having a description of how to identify them; the ancients couldn't be identified without blood testing, but the Fukumaden Clan is all born with distinctive markings and outrageous coloured hair and eyes." Vincent added, just to reassure everyone that they did know how to point out who was the enemy.

"Let me guess…flaming red hair, piercing demon eyes and stripes on the face?" Tifa mocked, before regaining her serious nature.  
She had to make a joke out of it, otherwise everyone would become miserable like on the Journey to defeat Sephiroth…someone always has to make a crack joke out of the whole ordeal…just to stop everyone going mad.  
Usually it was Aerith or Cid…Cloud did the opposite of everything, but with Aerith gone now and Cid looking more worn down than usual, Tifa had to make the crack.

"That's just Reno; each member of the clan has unique markings and hair…depending on genetics. Usually they have markings on their face; and the more they have, the less inbred they are. Since Reno and Kisho are half-breeds, they only show 50 of the Clans genetics." Vincent answered, obviously not getting the joke.  
Tifa huffed.

"Usually they have blue eyes, but they seem to only turn red under certain circumstances…what those are, we haven't gotten far enough to uncover." Vincent added.  
Yuffie launched off her seat and started making punching motions in the air, almost as if she was victorious in a battle.

"I saw guys in Deep Ground with markings, creepy eyes and outrageous hair! And I kicked their butts! Does that mean I beat up one of the bad guys early? HUH!?" she cheered.

"No, Yuffie. They where specially bred soldiers; enhanced by an 'unknown gene' given to them at an early age. Reeve thinks it was a gene from the Fukumaden Clan, but there's nothing in the report about it. So it's just an idea." Vincent corrected.  
Yuffie instantly sulked and stopped punching, before sticking her tongue out at the gunman as if to call him a 'spoil-sport'.  
That was when Cloud left the ward quietly, it was only until he reached First Tsuguri that he told everyone about Reno's condition.

"Good news guys, seems Reno's become stable. And it's not Mako Poisoning after all…the medics are just trying to figure out what this strange substance is that's contaminating his blood, apparently it attacked his heart and caused it to fail. But whatever Kisho shoved into his chest, it saved his life." Cloud explained as he placed his sword onto his back.  
Vincent glanced towards the door again and began muttering to himself.

"So he really did know what he was doing…" he muttered.

"Wonder what that materia was? I bet it's worth a mint!" Yuffie chuckled.

"Now that you mention it…the report did mention of a certain piece of materia Reno was known to cling to…" Vincent rose, getting into his typical thinking pose.  
Cid and Nanaki both shook their heads at Vincent, who instantly gave them both a 'what have I done?' expression.

"There ya go with the thinking again! Just sit down and stop thinking, Vince!" Cid laughed.

"Yeah, you keep doing that and you're brain might overload." Nanaki chuckled.  
Vincent glanced at everyone else as they showed similar gestures to him, so giving in to everyone else Vincent took a seat and sighed.

"…fine." Vincent huffed.  
There was an eerie silence as everyone stood there with their arms folded and tried as best as they could not to get worked up.

"So how's the little runt doin'? That was quite a hole in his chest." Barrett asked Cloud, who made a 'hm?' sound as if only just hearing the end of what Barrett wanted to say.

"He's just getting some rest now…so don't even think about going in there Yuffie and ripping out that materia, the last thing we want is for him to wake up angry." Cloud answered, directing most of what he said at Yuffie, who looked like she wanted to sneak into the room herself.  
She sulked once she found out she had been caught, before throwing herself back into the waiting seat and folding her arms.

"…so Rufus was saying…" a feint voice in the distance said.

"Holy crap! Is that Tseng!?" Cid snapped as he got to his feet.

"Oh man, this is really bad! And just when Reno finally stopped spazzing out!" Yuffie yelped.

"Shhh! Listen!" Tifa warned, obviously interested in what the Turks where saying.  
Another pair of doors separated the waiting area from the corridor, and it sounded like Tseng and the others where just outside of them.

"And I know Rufus told us not to kill him, but I just want to beat the crap out of his skinny backside right now…don't you, Rude?" Tseng said, pausing outside the doors to face his comrades.

"…." Rude remained silent and adjusted his sunglasses.

"You're not still attached to that beast, are you? Rude, you knew your job was just to watch him as he progressed through the Turks. Not to form an attachment to him." Tseng informed, before loading his handgun…which he probably was going to use on Reno.

"…." Rude adjusted his tie and cleared his throat nervously.

"Did I offend you? Heh…maybe you should do the honors of delivering the first shot, after all Rude, he is your pet." Tseng mocked.

"Tseng, cut it out!" Elena growled, grasping Tseng's hand and stopping him from finishing off his gun.

"But Elena…" Tseng whimpered as she released him.

"I know you never liked Reno, you always put on that 'I care, really' disguise every time someone said something about him…you didn't care about his feelings…but don't you care about our feelings!? We formed a friendship with him, even though we where told not to it was just too hard! We can't just kill him as easily as you!" Elena snapped, sounding very frustrated in her tone of voice.

"I didn't know you had such feelings for the little mongrel, Elena. I'm sorry." Tseng said sarcastically, a mellow and emotionless expression on his face.

"There you go with the sarcasm! Haven't you thought about what you'd feel like in his position? The pain and suffering? The trauma!? How someone he thought was his trustworthy boss, decided to play a lie and stab him in the back!? He'll be hurting inside, Tseng…not because of the experiments…but from how we so easily betrayed our friendship with him…" Elena explained, her voice jittering every now and then as if she was worried or nervous about something.  
Tseng narrowed his eyes and placed his gun in its holster, brushing a hand through his hair before crossing his arms angrily as he stared at Elena. 

"….Tseng?" Elena asked in a very worried tone.

"…you really did beg him…just like he said you did…didn't you?" Tseng questioned, sounding slightly annoyed.

"W-what!?" Elena yelped in surprise.  
Rude backed away from the two slightly and opened the doors to head inside, trying his best to ignore the argument or not get involved.

"Didn't you!?" Tseng growled.

"That's enough you two!" Yuffie snapped as she sprang from the doors once Rude opened them.  
He stopped for a moment and looked at her, before continuing into the waiting area by himself.

"Who the---!?" Tseng questioned as he removed his gun from its holster, aiming it directly at Yuffie…but lowered it once it became apparent that she was no threat.

"Yuffie, you idiot!" Tifa hissed. And just when she was really getting into that argument as well.

"You better not lay a finger on his corpse, 'cause I've got first dibs on kicking his ass for lying to us!" Yuffie threatened, flexing her arms.

"You're threatening us, Wutai scum?" Tseng laughed.

"I'm not the only one who wants to kick Reno's lying face in…right guys!?" Yuffie asked, everyone else just waved their hands at her as if to say NO.

"Leave us out of it, Yuffie." Cloud said.  
Tseng and Elena then entered the waiting room, passing right by Yuffie, causing her to wave her arms about franticly as if seeking attention.

"So…Cloud and his band of misfits are defending a helpless monster…what hypocrites." Tseng mocked.

"And you're a murdering scumbag." Cloud answered back in an emotionless tone.

"I'm just doing my job…which reminds me…" Tseng answered, before checking his gun and approaching the doors leading to the ward.  
Elena ran after him and grasped the back of his jacket to stop him.

"No, Tseng!" she cried.  
At that very second, an alarm went off and everyone stopped what they where doing.

"…code blue…repeat…code blue…" the siren chimed.

"What the hells goin' on!?" Cid yelled, getting to his feet quickly.  
That was when Reeve stormed through the doors panting, a Cait Sith robot under his left arm.

"REEVE!?" the gang said in unison.  
Once the 'cat-man' regained his breathing pattern, he stood upright and looked extremely worried.

"Everyone, come quick! It's Reno's brother!" Reeve cried, still panting lightly.  
----

Just on the floor below, over 100 SOLDIERS where gathered into the medical reception area with their guns aimed towards the hulking giant that was Kisho.

"Human scumbags, I'm taking my brother back!" Kisho roared as he drew forth his double-ended blades.

"It's KISHO! You remember our orders! FIRE!!" the commander yelled as he waved his hand forwards to indicate they fire right away.

"ARRRRAGGGGGHHH!!!" Kisho roared as the bullets bounced off his barrier, before slashing at several SOLDIERS with his blades…instantly annihilating more than half of them in less than 10 seconds.

"Y-you monster!!" the commander cried before Kisho raised his foot and stomped on the smaller being.  
Once the other SOLDIERS where either disposed of or fled, Kisho approached the centre of the room and raised his hands into the air, his swords now placed on his back to form a 'shuriken' like blade.

"Wake up brother! We have to leave now!" he cheered, still gazing up at the ceiling.

"Leave? So soon? But Reno just got here; and I have unfinished business with him." Tseng mocked as he and the gang appeared from the doors right in front of Kisho.

"Hmph. If we don't leave right now, then you're all going to die." Kisho laughed, now looking directly towards the horde of humans before him.

"Hahaha…you'd kill us? You always where a funny one, Kisho…You know that we know your weak points. So I advise you come back quietly before you regret it." Tseng chuckled before teasing Kisho with his handgun, tapping it gently onto his own forehead as if to say 'the weak point is there'.

"Who said I was going to be the one who crushes you?" Kisho laughed sarcastically.  
Another alarm sirens, this time, the code changes…

"CODE RED IN EMERGENCY WARD! CODE RED!" the siren shrieked.

"Another alarm!?" Tifa questioned.

"This doesn't sound good…" Cloud muttered.

"Kisho! Is the materia you gave back to Reno his prized 'First Materia'!?" Vincent asked franticly.  
Everyone suddenly gazed towards the gunman in shock, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and demanded an answer over something nobody else really would have asked about.

"You're playing detective now, Valentine? Haha." Tseng mocked.

"You can shut up." Cloud growled.  
Tseng just chuckled under his breath at Cloud before teasing him with his gun as well.

"Kisho, answer me!" Vincent yelled angrily.  
Kisho's smirking face faded into a very stern and serious one, he drew forth the 'shuriken' blade and grasped it firmly in his left hand…since the right one was covered in metal and was too claw-like to use for holding things properly with.

"…you catch on quickly. Yes, it's his prized materia…but let me ask you something, Vincent Valentine…do you know what it does?" Kisho questioned back, sounding slightly amused by something.

"…." Vincent looked away and cursed under his breath.  
Kisho shook his head.

"Hmph…how unfortunate. If you knew then maybe I would have spared your life." Kisho growled before spinning the shuriken around as if revving up its power.

"What's he talking about?" Cloud asked Vincent, who just stayed silent and looked angrily at the ground.  
He sure was acting strange…wonder what was bothering him?

"Now then…if we're done here I must go and collect my brother before he gets angry, he needs to wake up before the meeting." Kisho announced before using the shuriken to summon forth a gust of wind to knock everyone over.

"Kisho, wait!" Vincent cried out before the wind hit him, and everyone else, hard in the face…causing them all to shield themselves with their arms.

"Who the hell's watchin' Reno!?" Cid snapped, guarding against the wind himself.

"I left Yuffie with Rude and Elena to make sure they didn't try anything, they where looking out for him." Nanaki answered.  
Suddenly Vincent growled and fled the room back in the direction of the wards, seeming almost unaffected by the wind now.

"Vincent, where the hell are you goin'!?" Barrett yelled, almost falling over from the powerful gust of wind.

"Vincent!?" Tifa cried out as the gunman dashed by her.

"Let him go! Someone needs to get over there to stop Kisho! If we loose Reno now we'll never find out where the Fukumaden Clan is gathering!" Cloud yelled as the wind slowly died down.

"Don't worry about that, worry about everyone's safety." Nanaki said in a slightly worried tone.

"The clan can't summon Seibutsu right now; it's not possible for them to do so if they don't have a leader. And that's what the meetings for, to assign a leader. We can't let Reno go to the meeting, the odds are stacked against him over being chosen…but the risk is too high." Reeve explained as the wind finally stopped.  
And Kisho, he was already gone…he must have left when he summoned the wind to distract everyone with.

"Why do we need to give a crap if he gets picked? Won't that make things easier?" Cid growled in frustration.

"No…the leader enters a deep sleep whilst all the 'master' materia is gathered, then they have all of the materia placed within them. When it's all gathered he wakes up and all hell breaks loose. But during his slumber he is heavily guarded and can't be left to do as he wishes…so finding the gathering point would prove impossible." Reeve answered.

"Shit…" Cid cursed as he pulled out another toothpick and commenced with chewing it.

"I'm going to finish reading this rather…disturbing…section of the report. I'll update you as soon as I get enough out of it." Reeve explained before heading back upstairs to the presidents office.

"Alright! Everyone, lets head back to the ward and stop that big lug from messing things up!" Cloud instructed.__

**END OF CHAPTER 4****.**

AN:  
This was a VERY long chapter! Phew! You won't get another long one for some time.  
The chapter WAS meant to be 22 pages long…but I cut it down to 19. The rest is on the next chapter.  
And I'm evil…very evil.  
MWUHAHAHAHAHA!!!  
Hope I didn't make you hate the story for that, but as I mentioned in the first chapter, this is going to be really crazy and Reno becoming all monster like…and about a secret much darker than Deep Ground.  
I've said too much! (Slaps hands across mouth)

Awww…just keep reviewing and I'll give you your teaser!

**Teaser for next chapter**

_  
"When my father told me about 'what I had to do when he handed over his leadership to me' I didn't want to go through with it. I…I couldn't…Reno was a very close friend to me and I didn't want to cause him any pain, but if I didn't go along with the whole project then I would be damning ShinRa to an undervaluing future."_

"…Rufus…have you actually seen what has happened to him? If you don't tell us what it was your scientists put into Reno's body, then all we can do is let the Turks finish their job. And I know you wouldn't want to have Reno's lifeless corpse brought to you now, would you?"

"I ordered them to capture, not 'shoot to kill', Cloud."

"I overheard Tseng in the Emergency Ward, before Reno's brother arrived, mentioning how he was going to go against orders and follow the rules set in the past. Basically, he's going to kill Reno whether you like it or not…because it's his job."

"…"

"I'm sorry Rufus, but unless you tell us the whole truth over this 'Project Fukubutsu' then we can't step in and help Reno…because we have no idea what we are dealing with."  
__


	5. Testing One's Patience

--**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or its characters/locations. I only own this idea and Kisho. Don't flame me, or I'll report you and do horrible tests on you too.-- 

**AN: Reviews, I can't thank you enough for them all!!  
Here's the next chapter, and don't hate me for making Rufus whine like a kid. I can't help myself sometimes:D**

MWUHAHAHAHA!! I have no good introduction ideas! So it's just a jump from where we left off!

**The Fall & Rise of Reno of The Turks**

**Part 5: Testing One's Patience**

  
Meanwhile….back outside the emergency ward….

"Vincent's acting really weird…" Yuffie huffed, sat down in one of the waiting chairs beside Rude; her arms folded, a typical 'bratty' expression on her face.  
Rude looked most uncomfortable being sat beside the girl.

"Yeah…why's he so iffy about Reno?" Elena asked as she leaned beside the door to Reno's ward, sighing heavily as if heartbroken.

"Why did he kick us out, that's what I want to know!" Yuffie pouted, throwing herself out of her seat.

"…." Rude adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, before making it clear that he was relieved Yuffie had moved away from him.

"Stuck up, vampire-emo guy." Yuffie growled at the direction of the door, shaking a fist angrily towards it as if threatening whoever was behind it.  
Of course, Vincent couldn't see her. So the gesture was purely to express frustration.

"I don't think he's a vampire, Yuffie…" Elena sighed, now leaning against the wall beside the door.

"What makes you think that? Huh!?" Yuffie pouted as she got right into Elena's face, waving her arms around violently in protest.  
Elena would usually avoid talking to the annoying girl, but after seeing Reno like that….all corpse-like and everything…she had to take her mind off it somehow.  
Yuffie was a perfect distraction from those bloody images of Reno's seemingly lifeless body.

"Well…" Elena began to counteract Yuffie's protest, but the alarm for CODE RED chimed…and in walked the last person they wanted to see.

"Ahhh….more worms for me to squash." Kisho chuckled.

"You! You're that thick-headed guy who attacked Vincent and ripped a hole in Reno!" Yuffie yelled, now turning her frustration on Kisho.  
Rude remained motionless as did Elena, they knew better than to pick a fight with a guy THAT big and THAT heavily armed with swords.

"And your point is?" Kisho huffed, disgusted by the presence of the Wutai-Ninja.  
Yuffie grinned her childish grin, revved her arms and shoulders before chuckling.

"You're a bad guy, so I have to kick your ass!" Yuffie smirked.  
Kisho laughed at how small Yuffie was and how she thought she could take him on, the girl was clearly arrogant and cocky.  
Very full of herself.

"It would be amusing to see you try, but I really must go and collect my brother. So stand aside." Kisho chuckled, before approaching the doors.

"Even if I let you go by, you wouldn't get in! Vincent's in there and is really pissed off about something!" Yuffie explained, blocking Kisho's way.  
Elena and Rude knew what would happen if she stayed like that by herself, she'd be crushed like bug.  
A nice reprieve from her voice, but still…she was young and didn't deserve to be pummeled by a big guy like this.  
Elena stood beside Yuffie and Rude got to his feet, both of them blocking the door beside Yuffie.

"Hmmm?" Kisho grunted, obviously interested in what he was hearing.

"Yeah, he was really twitchy and kept telling us to stay outside. And if you went in there he'd blast a hole in your head in no time." Elena added.  
Kisho looked up at the ceiling and laughed, before gazing back down at the three blocking his way.

"Defending my brother…Hmph…so he finally understands then." Kisho chuckled.

"What!? No, he's not defending him! He's----" Yuffie began, but got interrupted by a growling sound coming from Kisho.  
He was getting irritated.

"What would you know about what he was thinking, human?"

"But---" Yuffie tried again, but Kisho was approaching…and it didn't look like he'd stop to move the three aside, so they had to move in order to not get crushed.

"I have delayed long enough; I must collect my brother and be his guardian to the meeting." Kisho said as he reached for the doors to open them.

"Not so fast!" yelled a voice from behind.  
Kisho turned his head to glance over his shoulder, to see who was challenging him now, only to see it was Cloud and the others again.

"The insects keep crawling out from holes…this place really is infested." Kisho chuckled.

"You set one foot through that door and we'll make sure the other doesn't!" Tifa threatened.  
Just to make sure Kisho didn't try to go through the door, Cloud put it upon himself to block the doors to Reno himself.  
Kisho cracked his knuckles at Cloud, growling deeply under his breath like a wild animal, to get the point across that he wouldn't let anyone get in his way.

"Say what you want, my brother awaits me. And since he's here, I might as well take Valentine with me." Kisho growled.  
The whole groups' faces twisted into confused and baffled expressions, why Kisho wanted Vincent was a cause for concern.

"Vincent? What do you want with him?" Nanaki questioned, easing his attacking stance since he…along with everyone else, for that matter…where concerned over why Kisho wanted the gunman.

"He obviously has been distracted by human contact, so his senses aren't what they should be…if I take him to the meeting he should 'wake up' as well." Kisho blurted out, now cracking his own neck as if readying himself for combat.

"Y-you mean…" Yuffie twitched.

"He's one of you!?" Barrett yelled.  
Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief, was this guy pulling their legs just so he could make a quick escape? Or was he on to something?

"Ha-ha…why else would he be so different from you humans? You caught on to his bizarre nature when you first met him, didn't you?" Kisho laughed.

"…." Everyone looked at one another and then back at Kisho, remaining totally silent.

"I thought so." Kisho chuckled.

"He was just all weird and monstery! But that's because he's got Chaos! He's not one of you!" Yuffie pouted.

"And where do you think Chaos originated from? He was born from the planet like all living beings…but he originated from OUR tribe to serve the Planet in creating Omega." Kisho answered, now clicking his fingers and eyeing the group to identify a weak spot.

"And Chaos serves the purpose of unleashing hell onto the world, once his task is complete; his body dies and he finds a new host. We've been searching for years in ShinRa's old database files for who the new host was, and some idiot activated the Science Project files some 3 weeks ago. I only found out Vincent was the new host because of that file, when I saw him this morning I had to test his skills…but he was so pathetic…" Kisho laughed.

"Shut up! I've heard enough!" Barrett spat.

"No…wait…why do you want Chaos anyway? You've only been missing for 2 weeks, so how…" Tifa questioned.

"Hmph…unlike my brother, who was oblivious to his heritage, I secretly planned to find Chaos and harbor his power to help us awaken all our inner strength. Once we do that, we finish our age old battle with the Ancients and with each other." Kisho explained.  
He now relaxed his 'attacking stance' and threats once it became apparent to him that everyone was just confused…and not looking for a real fight.

"You wanna fight…against each other?" Cid questioned, as if seeking a confirmation to what he just heard.  
Hey, he is old after all…his hearing must be pretty bad.

"Yes…finish off what we started…back when Reno was only 6 years old we where attacked by the Midgar Zolom in training and he transformed and saw off the monster, it was there that I saw the hidden powers within us…the power of Seibutsu…and I wondered, what would it be like to fight one on one with another creature like that? The creature my brother became?" Kisho explained some more, tapping his head every now and then as if to say the memory is still fresh in his head.

"…a thirst for battle, you really are monsters." Cloud huffed.

"Call us what you want, human scum. Once we finish off the age old battle with the Ancients and test our powers against one another, we're going to think about what to do with you all next." Kisho growled.  
Everyone looked at one another and chuckled slightly, causing Kisho to raise an eyebrow in confusion. Baffled by why they where laughing at him.

"You do realize the Ancients are all dead now, right?" Barrett mocked.  
Kisho growled and scrunched up his face, much like an angry cat would, in disgust.

"They may be dead, but their history still exists." He growled angrily.  
Everyone jolted from their laughing to serious silence after Kisho said that, he wanted to destroy the Ancients history?

"Eradication of all their knowledge, memory and history! Just as we had done to other tribes before! We where so lucky that alien 'Jenova' appeared and wiped most of them out for us, we just hope we can do the rest ourselves!" Kisho roared, clenching his fists angrily.

"Just as we erased the Ancients scriptures from our lives, they erased our scriptures from theirs…the ancients took one of ours though and 'tweaked' it…and the whole collection of scriptures exist in one book…" he added, relaxing his anger and returning to the normal 'emotionless' Kisho.

"One…book?" Cloud questioned.  
Kisho then turned back around to face Cloud and the Emergency Ward doors, which he was still blocking.

"Yes…my brothers' book…and if you really do want to go mad over it…maybe you should ask Rufus about 'Project Fukubutsu' at some point. Now stand aside so I can take Reno to the meeting, otherwise we'll be late." Kisho answered, before taking another step towards the door.

"NO!" Cloud yelled as he prepared to swing First Tsurugi. **(apparently, that's how it's spelt)**

"Get out of my way! RAAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!!!!" Kisho roared as he launched a giant fist into Clouds face, sending him flying into the nearby wall to the giants left.

"Cloud!" everyone cried out.  
Kisho turned to face the others and snarled, just so they got the picture.

"If anyone else gets in my way, I'll crush you!" Kisho warned.

"You!!" Tifa yelled as she prepared to attack herself.

"No, Tifa! Let him by!" Cloud cried out, getting to his feet once again as Kisho entered the ward.  
And there Reno was, still motionless in the bed…strapped up to the life machine…Vincent stood beside him in a heavy thinking pose.  
Only when Kisho entered the room did Vincent immediately draw Cerberus and prepared to fire.

"Brother…and Vincent Valentine…I do trust you've been doing your job and watching out for him…" Kisho chuckled.

"Kgh…" Vincent backed away slowly as Kisho approached; the hulking giant was VERY intimidating…even if Vincent fired Cerberus he doubted it would do much damage.  
Kisho was very bulky; the bullets would probably just scratch his skin.

"Come now, let us all go together." Kisho chuckled, approaching the still unconscious Reno and the now slightly weary Vincent…who was trying his best to stay close to the vulnerable ex-Turk.**  
**  
"Kisho, wait---!!" Vincent growled.  
Suddenly, without any warning at all, Kisho had launched his huge fist into Vincent's stomach, the gunman gawking in agony before finally falling unconscious himself.  
Kisho grasped Vincent around his waist using his left arm…whilst using his right to hold his brother. The giant wrapping his long arms around their snoozing bodies as if they where freshly caught fish, being carried by a humanoid-like-bear.

"You don't need to talk right now, Valentine." Kisho muttered in satisfaction, knowing quite happily he had obtained more than he wanted.  
He pushed himself out of the doorway, only to be blocked once more by Cloud's friends. Who looked furious at him.

"You big ape! What are you doing!?" Barrett growled.

"Collecting, now off we go!" Kisho answered, adjusting his arms so the snoozers didn't fall from out of his arms.

"You're not going anywhere with one of our friends!" Nanaki snapped, getting into an attacking stance.  
Kisho stomped his left foot angrily and roared, causing the group to step back a little, but maintain their stances.

"All of you better stand aside, I may have no free arms to smash you with but I can still stomp on you!" Kisho threatened, before stomping his foot again angrily as a warning.  
The giant then began making his way forwards, just so he could take what he wanted and leave, but Yuffie got in the way and he growled like an angry dog, gazing at her with his yellow eyes as if he was imagining savaging her.  
Yuffie was then moved aside by Tifa, whilst Cid was being heavily restrained by Barrett and the two Turks who where watching before: Elena and Rude.  
Cloud was just watching from a safe distance, taking in all that was happening…possibly for reference later.

"Yuffie! Let him by!!" Tifa encouraged, edging the grouchy Ninja away from the deadly gaze of the giant.

"Damn wusses! Let me at him!!" Cid barked angrily, trying with all his might to launch an attack with his spear. But Rude and Barrett had a good hold of him, Elena was the only one who got knocked back by the frantic and furious Cid.

"No! He's got Vincent on him, you can't attack!" Barrett warned.  
The pilot turned grumpily to look over his shoulder at the AVALANCHE boss, before growling under his breath and resuming his struggle to fight.

"It's what Vince would have wanted, now let me at him!!" Cid barked.  
Suddenly, Rude let go of the pilot and Barrett failed to take the strength of his pulls…the angry blonde charged rapidly towards the big monster, spear at the ready, yelling in all his fury.

"You guys keep the big lug busy! I'm going to get some answers from Rufus!" Cloud suddenly blurted out, rushing past all the chaos as Cid was doing his best not to get stepped on by the hulking monster.

"Right!" Tifa and Barrett said in unison.  
Kisho finally whacked Cid away from him and stomped the ground as another threat, whilst the remaining party members hurried in front of Kisho and blocked his path.

"Try all you want!! I'm still going to beat my way through you all to get to the meeting!" Kisho growled, Cid recovering quickly and joining the party.

"Bring it, you fat bastard!" he snapped in an angry tone.  
Kisho became enraged once he heard that foul-mouthed pilots taunting, he'd heard enough…he wanted to smash someone, so very much.  
Slamming another foot on the ground and leaning forwards, Kisho sucked in a heave of air and roared with all his might…the Dragonian rasping sound bellowing deeply in his roar, alongside the ferocious deep growls from a lion being echoed within it.  
The monstrous war-cry would surely awaken any beast and cause them to flee…or wet their pants and accept their doom…if they had pants, that is. 

"ugh…a…???" whined one of the bodies under Kisho's grasp…they stirred gently and tried to raise their head, but seemed to fail after it became apparent something was wrong with their throat…or neck.  
To everyone's relief, it was the red-head…he'd _finally_ awakened…and was breathing again.

"Brother! You're awake!" Kisho chuckled in surprise, slightly happy his younger sibling was actually conscious.  
For one, he wouldn't have to carry him anymore.

"Phew! Good timing!" Tifa sighed with relief, glad to not be facing that monster and risk hurting Vincent in the process.

"Arggg…..gah?" Reno gagged, finally raising his head to gaze at his surroundings tiredly. A confused and dumbfounded expression on his face, much like one he would use if he was a lost puppy in a busy amusement park.  
Half of Reno's face was darkened in colour, much like his entire left side of his body…it seemed whatever was growing inside of him was mainly affecting the left side of everything.  
The red-head finally figured out where he was and glared at the group of people in front of him and his hulking brother, his left eye a crimson red…with demon-like slits for pupils. Where as his right eye was completely normal again.  
It was _almost _like you where staring at the two sides of the creature…his demonic side and his, well, not-so-demonic side.  
He opened his mouth to say something again but gagged again, this time, sounding much more painful.

"What the hell---??" Barrett questioned, looking slightly worried by Reno's obvious pain.

"BE QUIET!! What do you need brother?" Kisho questioned, growling at the party members first to keep them quiet of course.

"A….gurk…de…bleh…be" Reno gagged again, somehow he was trying to speak…but his voice wasn't working properly…his brother seemed concerned too, he was actually looking sympathetic.

"….it sure sounds like Mako Poisoning to me…" Tifa muttered after hearing further gagging sounds from Reno.  
-----

Reeve and Rufus where in the Presidents office, discussing the reports Vincent had found and the one that Reeve found in his pocket a few seconds ago.  
They had been in deep discussion for ages now…and Rufus constantly asked reeve to stop reading the report and do his job.  
But the cat-man always found an excuse to read it…always.  
Rufus had to pull out all the stacks to get him to stop.

"Reeve….I don't think you should read the rest of the report." Rufus warned, sat in his red-leather based office chair. A pile of paperwork to his left and a pile of…more paperwork scattered across the floor and to his right.  
Reeve was stood in front of the presidents desk, holding a copy of that very report in his hands.

"But…why, sir?" Reeve asked, slightly surprised the president still was determined to get him to stop reading.

"You thought that part was disturbing? Heh, then don't read the rest." Rufus answered, chuckling softly as he continued to write out his signature over some documents.

"But sir…" Reeve began.

"No." Rufus answered instantly, still writing…but more violently than before.

"Sir…we…"

"Don't read it, Reeve!" Rufus snapped, slamming his pen on the desk sideways, ensuring he didn't damage the table or his work.  
Reeve remained silent as the strawberry-blonde regained his cool and tidied up his desk, before relaxing into his chair. Rufus rested the right side of his head tiredly on his hand, almost as if he was going to go to sleep any minute.

"I'm trying to keep everyone calm over this whole ordeal, the last thing I need is to have you go mad over that report. I only read the whole thing because my old man told me to, even though I was just as horrified as you where…he made me read it…every single page." Rufus explained in a worried tone.

"I…I'm sorry sir. I never knew…" Reeve finally spoke.

"Every single…blood drenched page…" Rufus continued in a mortified tone.  
At that very instant, just before the president was about to slip into a state of self-trauma, Cloud barged through the doors.

"Sorry to interrupt your little party up here, but Kisho isn't going to sit back and wait for me to come back." Cloud announced.

"Cloud…why are you here?" Reeve questioned.

"Me and Vincent have been noticing some strange things about Reno's biological make-up, some things that he hasn't seen in the report…" Cloud answered.  
Rufus then awakened from his trance angrily, launching himself up from his seat and slamming his hands down onto his desk.

"You told them too!!?" Rufus barked.

"I had to sir! If they didn't know about what was happening they would have no idea over how to help us in an emergency!" Reeve answered in a slightly weakened tone.  
Rufus sighed heavily and sat back in his seat.

"…understood…" he muttered.

"I need to be quick, Kisho has both Vincent and Reno now and I don't think the others will hold him off for long…Reeve, think you could go help them?" Cloud requested.

"Yes! Right away!" Reeve nodded before bowing to the president and leaving, taking the documents he had with him.  
Once the door was closed, Rufus chuckled and rested his head on his hand.

"…you just wanted Reeve to leave so you could talk in private, right Cloud?" Rufus asked.

"Rufus, tell me what your scientists did to Reno." Cloud demanded in his typical, emotionless tone.

"Right to the point, as usual…" Rufus sighed before returning to his relaxed posture in his seat.

"I don't have time to chat or go over past memories with you. I need answers. _Right now._" Cloud growled, irritated by Rufus' attempts to keep the situation calm.

"All they did was give him a Mako injection, a fragment of Protomateria and an injection of something else." Rufus answered, yawning as if he was bored.

"Why did you choose Reno?" Cloud asked, getting right to the point again.  
Rufus stood up again, but much more calmly, and approached the large windows behind his desk…gazing out of them and over Neo-Midgar.  
He sighed heavily again and rubbed his head.

"I never chose him for anything, I was just doing what my old man told me." Rufus answered.

"…what your father told you…??" Cloud began.

"When my father told me about _'what I had to do when he handed over his leadership to me'_ I didn't want to go through with it. I…I couldn't…Reno was a very close friend to me and I didn't want to cause him any pain, but if I didn't go along with the whole project then I would be damning ShinRa to an undervaluing future." Rufus interrupted.  
There was a pause for a few minutes, whilst both men turned to face each other…Rufus remaining by the window and Cloud remaining between the door and the president.

"…Rufus…have you actually seen what has happened to him? If you don't tell us what it was your scientists put into Reno's body, then all we can do is let the Turks finish their job. And I know you wouldn't want to have Reno's lifeless corpse brought to you now, would you?" Cloud broke the silence.  
There was another small pause as Rufus approached his desk again, throwing himself back into his seat tiredly.

"I ordered them to capture, not 'shoot to kill', Cloud." Rufus corrected.

"I overheard Tseng in the Emergency Ward, before Reno's brother arrived, mentioning how he was going to go against orders and follow the rules set in the past. Basically, he's going to kill Reno whether you like it or not…because it's his job." Cloud answered, supporting his claim earlier.

"…" Rufus remained silent and narrowed his eyes as if doubting himself…or worrying about something.  
He glanced at Cloud for a second as if seeking some kind of positive information, but in return only got that same-old cold glance the delivery-boy was known for.  
That pale, emotionless face.

"I'm sorry Rufus, but unless you tell us the whole truth over this 'Project Fukubutsu' then we can't step in and help Reno…because we have no idea what we are dealing with." Cloud informed._  
_-----

"Gar…agh…ne…" Reno gagged.

"Garne?" Kisho repeated what he heard, much like a child would.  
The party took a step forward to listen a bit better, but the instant they did, Kisho growled at them and eyed them all to back off again.

"What the hells he talking about?" Yuffie whined, unable to hear anything from the back of the group.

"Mako Poisoning or not, something is tampering with his head." Nanaki informed the Ninja.  
Tifa placed her hands on her hips and shook her head.

"I always thought he was like that?" Barrett questioned.  
Elena and Tifa huffed in unison.

"No, the real Reno wouldn't even talk like that even if he was drunk." Tifa laughed.

"Gar…agh…ne…re…na" Reno gagged again, but adding more to what he was trying to say.  
Tifa narrowed her eyes and waved the two Turks to go and back away a little…just so Kisho didn't feel as threatened as before.  
Hell, the Turks carry GUNS.

"Sounds like he's trying to say something…but something's stuck in his throat…" Cid mentioned, scratching his head.

"I bet it's the materia!" Yuffie blurted out.

"Brother, you're not making any sense…" Kisho whined, sounding a little distressed by his brothers obvious pain…or suffering.

"Argggghhh…" Reno growled.

"Now he's irritated." Nanaki sighed.

"Oh great, that's the last thing we need…" Tifa pouted, folding her arms.

"Hello!? I bet it's the MA-TE-RI-A!" Yuffie yelled, jumping up in front of everyone.  
The party all eyed her to get back behind them before Kisho squashed her…since as soon as he saw her again, he eyed her that death glare once more.  
She instantly sprung into the back row once she noticed it too.

"We heard you Yuffie." Nanaki informed.

"Yeah, but we can't get close to see if you're right or not." Cid added.  
Barrett then loaded his hand gun and raised it to the ceiling; he was obviously just as irritated as everyone else was.

"You're all a bunch of idiots! Why would something in his chest affect his throat!?" Barrett growled.

"Brother, we can't take you to the meeting like this! You need to speak English!" Kisho continued to whine. But all Reno did as a response was gag, or sound like he was going to throw up.

"I…da…ann…go…" Reno gagged.

"What? What was that brother?" Kisho asked, sounding slightly excited to hear if his brother was actually speaking English again.

"Ya….ig…ot…" Reno whined, letting out a light choking sound before gagging again.

"Sounded like 'ya idiot'." Cid translated.

"Now we're getting somewhere…" Tifa chuckled.

"You all be QUIET!" Kisho roared.

"Up yours, you big jackass!" Cid threatened.  
Kisho then let his brother down, so he could walk himself…before stomping his feet as another threat to Cid and roaring again.  
But Reno didn't get up fully, he remained on his hands and knees weakly…his monster left-hand grasping his neck as he gagged and choked…his right human-hand scratching at the titled floor, his eyes widened and filled with emotions of pain and agony.  
His light gagging turned into harsh retching sounds as he started to salivate, scratching the ground tighter.

"GAH! AAAGGGG!!" Reno roared in agony, a bellowing roar much like Kisho's…only sounding more distressed.  
The large brother stopped his assault in an instant and backed as much to the side and away from Reno as he could, Vincent still under his arm unconscious.

"Wow! He shouted without talking all that hooey!" Cid taunted.  
Suddenly, Reno's retching became more apparent and obvious…as he removed the grasp from his neck down to his stomach, his face gazing towards the floor…a trail of saliva and blood dripping from his mouth.  
The feral growling and violent retching started making everyone feel a little uncomfortable…

"UGH! Gaawwwwgggg!!!" Reno retched violently, until something finally spilled out of his mouth…a large marble-like object clinked and clanged onto the floor…dowsed in Reno's own blood and spit, and to make matters worse for some, the retching continued as did the blood-based vomiting appearance.  
Whatever these orbs where, they where the source of Reno's little speaking problem.  
Finally, the red-head coughed up one fairly large orb, which was shimmering and bursting with light and a Mako-green colour.  
It seemed that last orb stopped the retching…for now.

"Ewwww! What's that!?" Tifa cringed.  
Yuffie sprung up from behind the group again and instantly saw the mess right in front of Reno's face…the blood…the small orbs…and…the large one.

"Is that…OH MY GOD!!! MATERIA!!!" Yuffie shrieked with joy, rushing up towards the bloody mess.

"Don't touch that!" Kisho growled, still keeping his distance from his brother…obviously sensing he wasn't quite done getting rid of what was in his stomach.  
He was still clenching it violently, and panting heavily…not to mention he was still spitting up blood.

"That's the only useful thing the big ape has said all day….you don't know where it's been Yuffie! Don't touch it!" Tifa warned.  
Yuffie didn't listen though, as sick as she felt about what she saw and was going to touch…the materia was too tempting.  
She grasped the largest orb and cleaned it off with a few shakes, although the _very slimy _feeling still remained all over it.

"I know where it's been! It's been in Reno's gut!" Yuffie chuckled before examining it.  
Now it was apparent…these smaller orbs where materia that hadn't finished developing, where as the large orb was a fully completed piece of materia.  
Green in colour? It had to be Magic based.  
Before anyone could approach to further investigate, Reno began retching again and threw up 3 more large orbs…smeared in his blood.  
After they had finally be expelled from his stomach, the ex-Turk fell face first into the puddle of blood…pale and weak…he just laid there panting.

"Awww man….I think I'm gonna be sick…" Barrett gawked before turning away from the horrible mess…and how easily Yuffie picked up the gore-covered materia and cleaned them off.

"Wow! He's like a chicken! A MATERIA chicken!" Yuffie chuckled, pocketing the materia and even the unfinished pieces.

"…maybe that will clear up his throat?" Tifa thought as the ex-Turk recovered and got to his feet weakly.

"Argg….gur?" Reno coughed dryly, and he seemed to still be gagging as if more materia was clogging his system

"…I guess not…" Tifa huffed in annoyance.  
----

"We used a special mixture for the main injection. The Mako was essential to ensure Reno's body didn't start to deteriorate or degenerate like his brothers did." Rufus explained.

"Yes…but what was it? What was in it?" Cloud requested, sounding a little impatient…he'd just heard all the roaring downstairs…the beasts where THAT loud.

"…liquefied Bahamut materia was the main ingredient. We added small samples from Jenova cells just to gain the 'rapid spreading' effect they had and…some blood samples Hojo left behind for us to use. We followed all the instructions he left for us in the report, that's how we where able to make it." Rufus answered, leaning against his desk as he stood directly opposite Cloud.

"…did anything mention why the injection was needed?" Cloud asked, sounding slightly confused, if not baffled by the whole idea.

"Hojo listed in the report that the injections where to awaken the 'weapons within' the subjects…and since all the subjects where 'possible Fukumaden Clan descendants' we think he meant the transformations when he mentioned 'weapons within'." Rufus answered, turning around to search through a pile of paperwork for something.

"Can I see that part of the report?" Cloud asked, sounding a little interested in what he just heard about this 'weapons within' thing.

"I'm afraid not…I've even forbidden Reeve to read it…what is mentioned within those pages is so horrific, it may damage you mentally." Rufus answered before finally finding what he wanted, skimming through it as he commenced with his conversation.

"You seem alright. So it can't be as bad as you say it is." Cloud growled.

"I'm only alright because I've seen masses of bloodshed as a boy, when my father trained me to deal with it." Rufus growled back, taking his eyes off the paperwork just to deliver that threat.

"So that's why you where so heartless when we first met you…" Cloud mocked, folding his arms and rolling his eyes.

"Hmph…am I heartless? Then why do I care right now?" Rufus chuckled before returning his gaze back to the paperwork.  
Cloud huffed and relaxed his arms.

"Beats me." He shrugged, almost teasing Rufus.

"You wanted to know about Project Fukubutsu….but there is only so much I can tell you that will help…most of the projects documents is on the clans history and what we had to give to the subjects. A very small amount of it is about WHY it had to be done." Rufus informed, before handing the paperwork to Cloud.  
As Cloud read it, Rufus began pacing around his office…as he began explaining what that paperwork was about to the delivery-boy…making it basic English, if you will.

"Hojo specified that the 'older brother' had precognition and the experiments done to him would increase ShinRa SOLDIERS strength if the power was harnessed. But that could only be done through intense experiments…Reno and Kisho are half-breeds of the clan, so their powers only showed up in moments of intense emotion." Rufus began.

"Hojo's 'Fukubutsu Serum' tricks their bodies into thinking their lives are in danger, causing them to permanently use their powers…so Kisho would be able to tell us the future and help us in SOLDIER with his inhuman strength, and Reno would create Materia by the minute, and kill anyone he was told to kill." He added.  
Cloud finally took his eyes off the report and glanced behind him to where Rufus was now pacing, he appeared to be in deep thought and highly worried.

"So how did you plan on controlling Reno if he became a mindless monster? Because it looks like we might need that technology very soon…just to tame Reno so we are able to cure him." Cloud questioned, turning around to fully face the president…who immediately looked away from Cloud in a very worried manner after hearing about 'Reno being cured'.  
He stood in silence for a while before puckering up the courage to finally say:

"…he can't be cured…"

"WHAT!??" Cloud yelled in complete and utter shock.  
Rufus rubbed his own shoulders as if he was freezing, still looking very worried about something, as the horrible truth finally sunk in.

"Reeve only just reminded me with that fragment of the report…once the serum enters their system it will stay there for life. He's not going to be the Reno we use to know….ever again." Rufus answered weakly.

"….you son of a---" Cloud growled, highly tempted to draw First Tsurugi and impale it right into the president.   
But before he could do anything, the strawberry-blonde had entered a state of self-trauma again and was sulking like a saddened child. One who was told Santa wasn't real on Christmas Eve.

"I didn't want to go through with it! I….I wanted Reno just to leave the Turks and ShinRa for good so he never got involved…but Tseng…he…he persuaded me that it was for the good of ShinRa…" Rufus whined before pacing again.

"Tseng's a lying bastard; he should have been the one who got tested on." Cloud grumbled, narrowing his eyes at Rufus in a threatening manner.

"…I would have thrown him into it instead, but he isn't any different from us. The tests would have killed him instantly." Rufus answered back, still pacing around his office.  
There was more silence for a while, until further sounds of roaring where heard…causing Cloud to remember he left his friends downstairs.

"…so there's no way to cure him?" Cloud quickly brought up.

"We can delay the process by keeping him close to us; he'll still gradually change, but not as quickly or violently. Kisho has the Protomateria stabiliser within him, so that's why he hasn't changed yet…but Reno escaped before we could give him his dosage. And it's too late to give him it now." Rufus answered, easing his pacing.

"…and if Kisho is as smart as I think he is, he'll find a way to break loose from his dosage soon…we gave him an overdose just to make sure he couldn't, which resulted in the loss of his emotions…you see, the last thing we want is for both of them to reach their full power and attack each other…" Rufus added…finally stopping his pacing. **(Geez, I got fed up of right 'pacing this' and 'pacing that' so I made him stand still for once! So sue me! LOL.)**

"….shit…that's what Kisho was planning on doing…" Cloud muttered.  
Rufus brushed aside his bang before putting his hands on his hips, still sulking over something.

"Members of the Fukumaden Clan would only attack each other if something was at stake. Like a position as the leader or if they just hated one another…the thing that worries me is that when they do attack…one never leaves the fight alive." Rufus explained, looking away from Cloud as if he didn't want the blonde to see the sheer overwhelming of his stuck up nature, be replaced by these feelings of sadness and fear…  
Rufus was not known for either of those.

"…you don't want to loose Reno…do you?" Cloud hesitated; he knew that if he touched a raw nerve on Rufus then everything could just go down the toilet…an angry president isn't a helpful president.

"I don't care what happens to Kisho, he's a monster…Reno is just scared and confused…if he calms down we might be able to find a way to stop the serum from fully contaminating his body before it's too late. I had a word with the chief of staff and he's willing to work on it…so long as Kisho is 'taken care of' first." Rufus answered.  
There was further silence, until Cloud finally decided it was time for them to head out.

"Good. If what you tell us is true…that means we know who the potential leader for the clan is. If we 'take Kisho out' we can help Reno even faster than we hoped." Cloud began.

"One thing we have to be careful about is upsetting Reno…if he gets too upset, everyone is screwed. We can't kill Kisho, especially in front of Reno…he'd snap and butcher all of us and go around killing everyone else…including the remaining members of his people." Rufus warned.

"…was that in the 'classified' section of the report? Vincent and Reeve---"

"It is…because the last subject who died showed similar reactions to previous ones…they went mad after they where taken from their families and found out they had been killed by SOLDIER to protect the privacy of the project." Rufus quickly interrupted Cloud, he knew how dire the situation downstairs was getting…he could hear them both…roaring and growling…if they didn't hurry up everyone would be in deep trouble.

"…what about Reno's parents?" Cloud asked.

"We made sure they stayed alive…but Reno's father is ill after the tests we tried on him." Rufus answered.

"Maybe his mother might be able to help us." Cloud suggested.

"Good point…only problem is, she'd kill me if I went on my own to get anymore information. You'll have to go." Rufus chuckled.

"OR…maybe you could come with us." Cloud suggested, folding his arms and smirking.  
He had a plan.

"W-what!?" Rufus nearly lost his balance there…him? Go with the rebels?

"Come on Rufus, let's go and help Reno out."  
-----

So much time had passed in the office, that Reno had finally made his stand…he was leaning against the nearby wall, grasping his head…screaming and gagging in agony.  
His brother, Kisho, was just stood at a safe distance laughing as his younger sibling scratched and attacked the nearby wall.

"R-Reno!?" Elena shrieked, the Turks had finally returned to help...well…all except Tseng and a few rookies.

"Let your anger swell, brother! Let it erupt from your body and unleash your fury!" Kisho howled, raising his hands up into the sky.  
Reno suddenly sprung into a panic and attacked a nearby chair, smashing it in an instant with his head.  
As soon as he glanced up to look at the others, it was now clear…that _thing_ coming out the side of his head.  
A small horn, much like Bahamuts from Final Fantasy IX (9) was growing from his head.  
The left side of his head to be more precise.

"What did you do to him!?" Elena cried as the ghoulish Reno growled in the party's direction, before gagging again.

"I didn't do anything. This was by his own will….and soon enough he will start his taste for death by butchering all of you with his rage!" Kisho laughed.  
Reno took a step towards the group, the left foot now heavily resembling that of a dragons…his left hand more claw-like than it was a few days ago…and for the first time in ages…BOTH his eyes where the crimson red, he had fangs…and even had tiny red stripes down the side of his cheeks…trailing from where his usual 'eye stripes' where.

"Garrrrrgggghhh!" Reno growled, holding back a gag, before slouching forwards as if ready to attack.

"Stop it! Please, just stop it!" Tifa yelled.

"RAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" Reno roared monstrously before beginning a dash.  
That was, until mid-dash he heard a voice…

"You whine too much, Reno."

"Uggghhhh….gah?" Reno whined as he stopped his oncoming attack, raising his head to try and look over the group of people blocking his view…even though he was stood quite some distance away.

"HMMM??" Kisho growled.  
That was when Rufus and Cloud appeared; the president had his shotgun with him and had only just loaded it, whilst Cloud was stood by with First Tsurugi at the ready.

"And Kisho, stop trying to rub off your influence onto him." Rufus growled.

"So…the maggot shows his face. I ought to crush you right now." Kisho growled back, cracking his knuckles.

"Give it a rest big guy. In SOLDIER you where funny …but now you're a pain in the backside. Shut the hell up." Rufus mocked.

"All you humans do is complain…never once thinking about other species but yourself." Kisho huffed.

"And you don't?" Rufus spat, keeping a very stern and serious face.

"We have our reasons to butcher other races." Kisho laughed softly, as if revelling in the memories of how many people he killed…and how many his ancestors did before him.

"What, because you're insecure?" Rufus mocked, still remaining serious, but letting out a soft laugh to amuse himself with.

"SHUT UP!" Kisho roared.

"Gah-ha-ha." Reno laughed haggishly; of course, he was gagging whilst he was laughing.

"That's not funny, brother!" Kisho growled angrily, now facing his happy-go-lucky brother, who stuck his tongue out at him as a response.

"Urg…eh…s" Reno responded.

"The materia clogging your system, Reno? Heh…just give it all to the Wutai kid, you'll feel better in no time." Rufus suggested, laughing softly to see that his treasured red-headed friend wasn't threatening to attack now.

"Gah-ha-ha." Reno continued to laugh.

"MATERIAAAAA!!!...and I'm not a kid!" Yuffie yelled in the background.

"He isn't just a materia vending-machine, you human scum!" Kisho roared.

"I know he isn't, but if he doesn't get rid of it all he'll never speak English ever again." Rufus informed.

"GAH!?"

"You heard me, Reno."

"Gawww…."

"If you come back with us Reno, we can clear you up." Cloud said, approaching in a friendly manner…stretching his hand out slowly as if he was trying to make a deal with a savage dog.

"RAAAAGGGHHH!!!" Reno roared, slapping Cloud's hand away.

"Whoa! Wasn't expecting that!" Cid coughed, falling over instantly from surprise.

"He's acting all…monstery again!" Yuffie shrieked.

"GGRRRRRRRRRrrr!!!" Reno growled in a mocking manner.  
_  
_"Like a moth to the flame, Reno will fall into his role as a member of Seibutsu's new group. He is beyond redemption." Kisho laughed, thinking his brother was acting serious about being savage.

"You're his older brother!? From the way you talk, I'd think you where Sephiroth." Rufus teased, cocking his shotgun.

"…believe and think what you want. In the end it won't matter." Kisho spat.

"In the end you'll find out just what you've done. You're damning your brother to a life of pain and misery." Rufus counter-answered. 

"And you care?" Kisho growled, cracking his knuckles again.

"I care as much as everyone else here does about him. While I may have only known him for 17 years, I feel like I have lived my entire life beside him….like I am his real and only brother." Rufus explained in a sympathetic tone.  
Everyone looked at him, their eyebrows raised…well, all of them but Cloud and Kisho.

"Graaaagghh??" Reno whined like a sad puppy.

"Don't listen to the human!" Kisho growled.

"…urk?" Reno cocked his head to one side and scratched his head, before glancing at his brother and then at Rufus.

"Reno! You can come back to us! All you have to do is ditch the nut-job and let us help you!" Rufus explained, looking less threatening than he did a few seconds ago.  
Reno glanced at his furious and savage-looking brother…before glancing back at Rufus, who was looking the least bit cold and heartless.  
He then approached the party, but got held back by his ponytail by Kisho.

"BROTHER!" he growled as he tugged at Reno's ponytail to come back.

"You don't get it do you!? You may be his brother, but in truth, Reno has people much closer to him than you ever where! He has FRIENDS. Friends that would die for him." Tifa and Cloud snapped, not in unison, but spoke the speech half-and-half.

"I had friends too at one point…but all three of them died…because of YOU." Kisho growled, easing his grip on Reno's ponytail once he noticed the little red-head had stopped struggling to deliver a death stare to him.

"Urg…eh…ignt.." Reno growled.

"I did too have friends, Reno! But they all died because of this blonde-haired little wretch who THINKS he was part of SOLDIER! A pathetic weakling like him wouldn't make first class…EVER." Kisho roared.

"I never heard about you being in first class, where the hell where you!?" Cloud snapped.

"You didn't hear about him because he had to be kept secret…he was like a 'spy' for us and went on rogue missions." Reeve interrupted. **(He's been hiding in the back row with the Turks and Yuffie. I wanted him out the way for a bit.)**

"Oh….right…" Cloud answered.

"Ru….fa….ssss…" Reno huffed, before spitting out one more ball of materia…much larger than the others, before stumbling forwards towards the group.

"Brother, don't!" Kisho pleaded, but before he could even try to grab Reno and force him back, he had already found security by Rufus…who had his shotgun ready to fire into the hulking giants face if he got too close.

"Materia! I LOVE this guy!" Yuffie shrieked as she took that materia too.

"Gah…ugh…my throat…" Reno huffed, now finally clearing up his system of that horrible materia.

"Brother, come back here! We must attend the meeting!" Kisho informed.  
Reno rested himself against Rufus, sticking his tongue out at his brother mockingly. His right eye had returned to the normal blue it once was…but his left eye remained the crimson red.

"Up yours, Kisho. If Rufus doesn't want me to go, then I'm not going. Ya know?" Reno teased.

"But he did all this to you! How can you forgive him so easily!?" Kisho growled in confusion.

"…I'll forgive him if he can forgive me for being a jerk, yo. He has a point too, you never where there for me when I was in trouble." Reno answered.

"But---" Kisho began, but got interrupted by Reno throwing a random materia orb at his head…one that was fresh, covered in Reno's bloody-spit.

"We promised to help each other in times of need…when I was suffering after I blew up the sector 7 pillar, where the fuck where you, yo!?" Reno cursed, before spitting up another piece of materia and throwing that at Kisho…the materia was half-baked, so it was useless…well…not if you THROW them at people.

"I had other things on my mind! And cut that out!" Kisho roared, trying his best to guard himself from the materia-onslaught.

"This could get amusing…" Rufus chuckled as Reno continued to lean on him, using his demonic left hand to spit materia into and toss at Kisho…whilst using his human hand to lean on Rufus for the security and protection he wanted.

"Like you did! I came and helped you to break into Wutai, but you couldn't save me when I was about to get crushed by several thousand tons of metal and concrete!?" Reno growled before throwing another piece of materia at Kisho, but missed.

"Shut up, brother!" Kisho growled back, grabbing the materia and tossing it back…only to have Rufus blast them into pieces

"Don't you go telling him to shut up!" Rufus barked, shooting every bit of materia that got thrown back.  
Of course, Kisho couldn't make materia…so he ran out of ammo quickly.

"The time will come, brother, when you will understand. If you won't go to the meeting, then fine! But I shall take Valentine with me." Kisho growled softly, almost sounding like he was offended by Reno's treachery.

"Oh no you don't!" Barrett yelled as he tried to block Kisho's path.

"GRAAAGHH!!" the beast roared as he smacked Barrett to one side and charged down the corridor and out of sight.

"OWCH! That really hurt!" Barrett cursed.

"Let him go, yo. I'll help ya get Vinny back." Reno offered, smashing up any remaining 'half-baked' materia lying on the floor with his demonic foot.

"He doesn't like being called that, you know." Cid informed.

"And I give a shit!? Now, Rufus…you where saying?" Reno snapped before turning to Rufus calmly.

"First of all Reno…I…I'm sorry. I didn't want to really put all this onto you, it was Tseng…"

"That grubby old bastard? I'll break him in half, yo." Reno growled.

"That reminds me, where is he?" Reeve questioned, looking around him.  
Elena and Rude where here, but they wouldn't dream of hurting Reno…so where was Tseng?

"…this isn't good, he could ambush us!" Tifa yelped, only just remembering Tseng wanted to kill Reno and anyone who defended him…but the president.

"…" Rude wanders out from behind the group and adjusts his sunglasses before glancing down at Reno…who seemed to have shrunk in the past few days by about half an inch.

"Rude, old buddy!" Reno chirped, hugging his friend.

"…you're alright?" Rude asked.

"Of course I am, yo! A hole in my chest is nothing compared to when I fell off the sector 7 pillar!" Reno laughed.

"Actually…you jumped." Rude corrected.

"Did I?...oh wait, hehe, I did…didn't I?" Reno laughed again.

"Look, although Reno's better and didn't go with Kisho, now we need to rescue Vincent. But we have no idea where the meeting is." Cloud informed.  
Everyone instantly turned to face Reno, who shook his head and looked very innocent.

"…don't look at me, I don't know where it is." Reno answered.

"YOU WHAT!?" Everyone yelled.

"I have no idea where it is. Kisho knew because he has that weird 'psychic' thing, yo. I don't have anything like that." Reno answered, shrugging slightly to emphasize he didn't really care either.

"….shoot…" Rufus sighed, sulking slightly.  
The quiet sound of a gun being loaded disturbed everyone's concentration on what to do next, and before they knew it, Tseng stepped out from a nearby room…his handgun fully loaded and ready for use.

"Shoot him, sir?" Tseng chuckled.

"TSENG!!?" Everyone yelled.  
Reno sprung instantly into rant mode, sticking his tongue out at his former boss whilst at the same time keeping his distance from him.  
He was armed, after all…Reno didn't have anything on him.

"Yo, you are a backstabbing scumbag ya know! I ought to break you right now!" Reno threatened, cracking his clawed handed knuckles.

"Reno, don't get worked up…" Rufus warned, standing perfectly in between the two.

"And I have the same rights to shoot you in the head, right now, for all the people you slaughtered." Tseng threatened back.

"What, when I was just 'doing my job' with you guys?" Reno insulted, growling angrily under his breath afterwards.  
If he had a tail right now, it would be swishing all over the place…he's that pissed off.

"Guys, lets just settle down now! Tseng, why don't we go and take a break!?" Elena offered, coming up behind Tseng and blocking his view with Rude by her side.

"Sorry, Elena…but I have a job to do. Now stand aside." Tseng informed, pushing her aside slightly so he could get a tiny bit closer.

"Bring it, bitch!" Reno hissed, before getting into an attacking stance again, bearing his teeth.

"Ghg." Rufus raised his shotgun directly at Tseng's head, whilst the Turk did the same…only aiming at Reno who was lounging around _behind_ the president.

"Sir, please stand aside. There's a monster standing right behind you. I must eliminate it for your own safety." Tseng said in his typical stern and militant voice.

"The only monster here right now is you, Tseng. Don't you get what Rufus is doing?" Cloud questioned angrily, standing beside Rufus and nodding at him to lower his shotgun.

"Hmmm? And you would know, how?" Tseng asked in the same emotionless tone, maintaining his aim on Reno.

"He told me in his office that he doesn't want to loose Reno, so he's not even letting you do your job." Cloud answered back.

"He's giving you the day off, yo." Reno chuckled, before getting back into his attacking stance and growling fit.

"You would think that, slacker." Tseng spat, looking at the half-demonic creature in disgust.

"Piss off." Reno hissed, pushing himself away from Rufus' protection…and right into the open.  
Right into Tseng's line of fire.

"Besides, I would rather plant a bullet in this red-beasts head than take a break. There's more satisfaction in my job than anything else…" Tseng chuckled lightly.  
Reno remained in his sly smirking ways, until within a second of hearing what Tseng actually said.  
But before the ex-Turk could even move aside…he felt the sharp pain of something piercing through his head, before collapsing entirely onto the floor.  
Motionless.

"RENO!" Rufus yelped, immediately dropping his shotgun to rush to the fallen ex-Turk's aid.  
But he wasn't moving, he had the same expression on his face when he felt the bullet from Tseng's gun pierce through his skull…that look of terror…that look of pain and shock.  
The look of a helpless, shot animal. Left to die on it's own.

"…other than the aftermath of the job, of course." Tseng chuckled, lowering his gun once it was obvious the 'monster' wasn't getting up to retaliate anytime soon.

"Shit, Tseng! Why the hell did you do that!!?" Barrett gawked, stunned by what he just saw.  
But this was how the Turks worked…no matter who they knew or who they had to kill, they did their job.  
And Tseng was no pushover, not like Elena and Rude where when he assigned them the job of killing the red-head.

"Reno!!? RENO!!?" Rufus cried out, shaking the motionless Turk violently to see if anything was still working within the red-heads body that would indicate a source of life.

"Tseng, you…you…rotten…!!" Cloud growled angrily; getting into an attacking stance to butcher Tseng right there and then, but Tifa…knowing what's best for everyone, held him at bay.  
Nanaki and Cid tried everything they could to keep Yuffie from going up to Reno and seeing the lifeless, if not traumatizing, body of the recently shot ex-Turk.  
But she saw it anyway, and screamed…screamed her lungs out before rushing to Tifa for some form of reassurance that what she saw wasn't real.  
They'd seen shot people before, but that look in Reno's eyes…it was just too much to bear thinking about…

"…oh….my god…" Reeve cursed, sounding gutted by what just happened.

"RENO!!? SPEAK TO ME!!" Rufus continued to yell, that was until he heard the chuckling of Tseng from behind him.  
And after turning around, he was right…Tseng was behind him, laughing under his breath at Reno…laughing, at Rufus' closest friend.

"Bang on target, as usual." Tseng chuckled lightly.  
Rufus got to his feet in an instant, grasping his shotgun and aiming it at Tseng in a furious fit of blind rage…nobody had ever seen Rufus so angry, well…not for 10 years at least.

"Tseng! I have every right to blast you out of the Turks myself after doing that!" Rufus threatened, narrowing his eyes as he glared at the Turk…indicating that he wasn't joking.

"Hmph. If he was smart he would have stayed stood behind you. Like he use to always do." Tseng mocked.

"…now we'll never find out where the clan is going to gather…" Nanaki informed, sulking slightly at their recent loss.

"Damn…first we lost Vincent…now Reno's gone too…but further away than Vincent…" Barrett sighed, also sulking slightly.

"You just made this that bit more awkward, Tseng." Cloud grumbled.

"All I did was shoot him in---" Tseng began, sounding a little confused…but the slight grunting noise of something disturbed his track of thought…and looking down to where Reno's corpse was…he saw the ex-Turk…blinking and slowly edging himself up.

"….ugh…." Reno grunted, getting to his feet as the bullet that embedded itself within his head slowly seeped out and fell onto the floor…and the wound healed up, just as quickly as his chest wound did.

"Holy…I don't believe it…" Reeve gasped, baffled by what he just saw.  
Rufus turned to look too, and dropped his shotgun again…his face lit up with relief for a moment…but quickly faded once he saw how angry the red-head was.  
And…who he was looking at in particular.

"What!? But I hit him directly!" Tseng yelled in shock, backing away from the now fully risen ex-Turk…who was baring his teeth angrily and panting, a growling sound coming from the very back of his throat.

"You….rotten….son of a bitch." Reno panted angrily, growling and flexing his claws in his left hand.

"Reno, no! Calm down Reno!" Rufus cried, trying his best to keep Reno from attacking Tseng.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHH!!!!!!" Reno roared before pouncing towards the Turk's general direction, claws drawn…teeth sharp…heart burning with rage.

"Reno, stop!" 

**END OF CHAPTER 5****.**

AN: VERY VERY LONG! I hate myself! I should be doing my Media Studies essays but I'm doing this for you guys! So, remember to leave a review and be a major contributor to saving my lie from my tutor and parents! ******  
NO UPDATES FOR A WHILE! Seriously, I need to study…that and I have other things going on.  
Don't tell me to put the next chapter up soon thought please, this one took ages alone…and with all the other things I need to do; you won't get it as soon as you will hope for like the previous chapter.**

Ruby, I'm sorry to say that the next chapter will have fairly strong language, because of Reno getting really worked up about stuff.

I'm so cruel! Here's the teaser to apologize! And remember, it won't be up for a while! Cause it's a long one! (cries) I work too damn hard! I need a soda! SODAAA!

**Teaser for next chapter**

_"Reno…how long have we known each other?"_

"17 years…Why?"

"Nothing…it just…feels like I've known you ever since I was a boy myself."

"…did you ever visit Kalm, yo?"

"Heh. Once. Back when my old man sent me out to train in other towns."

"No shit? How long ago was that?" 

"Pfft. I can't remember…"

"…"

"Ya know…The first time I saw you man, was outside Kalm. You where wearing that bright white suit and tie, riding in a ShinRa truck loaded with all kinds of thugs…I couldn't help my curiosity, I followed the truck to the Mythril Mines and got attacked by shit loads of monsters...but it was worth it, just to see you blast them to pieces."

"…you followed me in a ShinRa truck?"

"Yeah…"

"That must have been when my dad sent me to clean the mines out…I think that was...20 years ago…?"

"Yep. You where armed from head to toe, yo. I felt bad that I couldn't' help ya, but I was injured from just following you there."

"…why'd you do that?"

"Hmmm?"

"You know…follow me? Why did you follow me?"

"I don't know…something inside me just clicked and told me to follow you, yo. Guess it's the same thing that makes me follow you now."

  
__


	6. Rufus' Little Monster

--**Disclaimer:** I don't own FF7 or its characters/locations. I only own this idea and Kisho. Don't flame me, or I'll report you and do horrible tests on you too.-- 

**AN: I always thank you for the reviews, because you need to be thanked!  
To show I am reading them, here's a personal response to each one based after chapter 5!**

1. YinYangWhiteTiger – I know, Yuffie made me laugh randomly after the whole 'materia chicken' thing!**  
2. **Zeffie Turquoise – Um…thank you! O.o**  
3. **Ruby – I made the chapter too long! Sorry about that! But I'm glad you like it!  
**4. **Kigichi – Yeah, it seems a lot of people like the materia-making power I gave him. And I have slow-updates because college is very hard and time consuming. So, sorry for all the waiting.  
**5. **FreakZilla – thanks for the review:D

**I must also apologize for the serious lack in updates…but this is peak-season in coursework and deadlines are very strict. I've also been pretty ill and haven't been in the mood to write.  
But once again too all those who waited, thank you! And here's that chapter I spent too long on!  
And if you want to see CONCEPT ART for this story, check out my deviantart page! Just click my homepage on my profile! And away we go:D  
**  
Off we go into the wonderful world that is Reno! Please, mind your step!

**The Fall & Rise of Reno of The Turks**

**Part 6: Rufus' Little Monster**

"RENO! STOP!" Rufus yelled at the top of his lungs, unable to launch after his enraged friend…with the ex-Turk being inhumanly fast it proved impossible for the average person, including Rufus, to grab a hold of him.

"RENO!" he yelled again, this time, more frantic and heartbroken in tone…as the mutating beast got within an arms reach of Tseng being brutally mauled to death.  
At that very distance, Reno halted…frozen in mid-charge and his eyes widened…filled with terror.

"He…he stopped?" Tifa questioned, wondering what on Gaia had caused that sudden outburst to end as quickly as it began.

"RENO!" Rufus cried out as he dashed beside the slightly weary ex-Turk, who had now taken multiple steps backwards away from Tseng.

"Rufus, don't get too close! He might snap again!" Cloud warned.

But Rufus wasn't paying attention, he was too worried about Reno's condition and how he was feeling. Rufus said so himself that even the slightest upset could reveal dangerous results, and Tseng was very lucky to get away without even being touched.  
The strawberry blonde knelt beside his mentally disturbed friend, placing an arm around his shoulder to comfort his trauma. Whatever he saw that made him stop must have been powerful, it was obviously a 'vision' of some sort that flashed before his eyes just in time…causing him to halt his rage.

"Reno, are you alright?" Rufus asked softly, trying as best he could to disguise his worried nature.

"…i…impossible…" Tseng gawked, baffled and slightly dazed by what just happened.

"Tseng, you're so damn cruel! I wish Reno did attack you for shooting him!" Elena snapped.

"Be quiet, Elena." Tseng growled in irritation, shaking his head and instructing her to be silent.  
The blonde pouted and turned away, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed. Surely Tseng knew better than to be so careless, and to go against Rufus' orders.  
The tension was building too, with Reno still suffering from mental shock and Tseng proving more than a problem, Cloud chose to step forward and give the red-head as much 'breathing space' as possible.

"Tseng, you better get out of here before Reno regains his senses. He might attack again." Cloud informed, First Tsurugi now placed on his back.

"Hmph…and when did you suddenly care about me?" Tseng snorted in question, glaring at Cloud as if judging him.  
The blonde just gave the same look back to the Turk, giving him the impression that this was serious…and not the right time to pick fights.

"I don't. I just don't want Reno to snap again, he's creepy when he looks like that." Cloud answered.  
Tseng shifted his gaze to behind Cloud…where Rufus was still cradling the mortified Reno beside him, his eyes wide and filled with terror…those monstrous eyes.

"Heh. Fine…Elena, Rude come on. We're going." Tseng huffed, waving his colleagues to follow him as he approached the exit.  
Rude was first to follow, pausing for a few seconds to glance down at Reno…who was still being held by Rufus as if he was acting like a parent to the red-head…and Rude found it most disturbing seeing the president act so soft, he couldn't help but hold back a smile.  
Rufus really did have a friend…and all this time ShinRa employees where fooled into thinking he hated everyone; the Turks being the main target for irritancy, and Reno being the thorn in the Turks side…causing the irritation.  
He always got the sour end of Rufus, they would be arguing for ages…and for some reason, Rufus never chose to fire the red-head.  
He never even gave Tseng permission until recently…even that was hard for him to go through with.  
Rude nodded at Rufus once he realised he had the presidents attention, before taking his leave…followed by Elena, who was very relieved that they where going elsewhere.

"Heh. Those guys never change." Tifa sighed with relief once the Turks had gone…and pretty soon everyone had become more relaxed.  
Reno had stopped panicking and shivering, but Rufus still refused to let him go. Since the red-head was still wide eyed and very unsure of what was going on around him. That alone posed as a danger.

"Well…this one has…" Nanaki added, approaching slightly towards Rufus and Reno with the others to see if his condition had changed anymore.  
Everyone had noticed a slight change once the 'attack' was halted…the darkness on Reno had stretched further across his torso and was now working it's way to consume the right side of his body.  
If he didn't get help soon, he would fully transform…and stay that way forever.

"…poor Reno…" Yuffie sulked, gazing down at the terrified creature before her.  
Rufus hadn't budged one bit since he took place by Reno's side, and it didn't look like he'd move anytime soon either.

"Rufus, I think we should go to Kalm and see his mother. She might be able to help us." Cloud began, until an announcement speaker sounded and actually caused Rufus to pay attention to something else OTHER than Reno.

"kck…Rufus ShinRa to Lab 12…repeat…Rufus ShinRa to lab 12…kck" the speaker sounded, crackling out after the announcement was given.  
Rufus got to his feet slowly, so not to startle Reno any further, and helped haul him off the ground and to his feet…letting the red-heads demonic left arm rest along his shoulders.

"…you guys go on to Kalm and get some answers from Reno's mom, I'll take him upstairs." Rufus suggested.

"What!?" Cloud gawked, not expecting Rufus to cooperate one bit at all.

"You didn't expect me to leave him with you, did you? He's not stable…might go mad if you got into any fights on the way there." Rufus pointed out, adjusting how Reno was resting on him to a more comfortable position.

"But we're going by airship, why'd we run into any god damn fights!?" Cid snapped.  
Rufus didn't speak or even make a sound, instead he chose to point in Yuffie's direction and deliver a serious stare at her…one he was well known for giving people he saw that needed a little intimidation.

"Why are you pointing at me!!!? What have I done!!?" Yuffie whined.  
Everyone glared at her and then turned back to Rufus, who was trying with all his might to keep Reno on his feet.  
At this rate he'd have to give him a piggy-back ride upstairs…and with how much weight the red-head had put on due to the experiments, Rufus didn't quite fancy doing it.

"…good point. We'll go on ahead. Just be careful." Cloud agreed, before waving everyone to follow him to the exit.  
Yuffie pouted as Cid dragged her outside and away from hassling Rufus about why he pointed at her, with Barrett being the last person to close the door.  
It was good timing, Reno had finally 'awakened' from his trance of terror and was acting slightly drowsy, attempting to do things on his own…but his muscles must have weakened. Because he just sagged whenever he got the slightest bit lose from Rufus.

"Ugh….agh…" Reno whined, clenching his torso in agony. His eyes slammed shut as he tried with all his might to hold back the pain.  
Rufus made light hushing sounds as he moved Reno back into the position he was in before, just so carrying him upstairs would be easier.

"Easy now, buddy. We'll get you fixed up…" Rufus whispered as he started to make his way forwards to the elevators.  
Thankfully the lifts where operational so taking him up to the next floor wouldn't be a problem; it will be _keeping him up there _that will be the real challenge.

"Ahhh, Rufus! I'm so glad you're here!" a scientist welcomed the president as Rufus stepped from the elevator; a barely conscious Reno slumped on his back.  
There where about 5 other scientists running around the place, and the 'glass tube' Reno was stored in before had been fixed…but all that was in it was the gas mask.  
The red-head opened his eyes tiredly and gazed forwards, his left eye was only able to see what was going on…as the right eye was just staring at Rufus' neck due to how he was being carried.

"I brought Reno along just to keep him company, hope you don't mind." Rufus explained, wincing in discomfort as he adjusted how he held Reno again.

"E2-11!!? But I swear I heard Tseng say he shot him!" the scientist questioned franticly, shifting his gaze from the president to the half-conscious Reno…who moaned in agony as Rufus continued to try and keep him stood up and along his back.

"Direct shot to the head alright…I'm gonna give Tseng so much grief for scaring me like that." Rufus answered, finally allowing Reno's dragon-like feet to touch the ground.  
For some reason, he seemed to have become even _heavier _after that trip upstairs.

"So…he healed instantly…if we are going to reverse the effects of the serum, we need to work quickly. The only problem is, we don't want to sedate him whilst we give him the reverse drug…it might just counter-act and ruin everything." The scientist explained, examining Reno…who raised his head tiredly to glance at the scientist…a slight growl seeping from the back of his throat.

"Don't worry, I'll keep him busy whilst you give him it." Rufus offered, before making hushing sounds to Reno again. Causing the red-head to ease his growling and threatening nature.  
The scientist backed away slightly once Rufus nodded at him, to give him the message that it would be best to keep his distance until Reno fully woke up.

"Are you sure you still want to go through with this? After all…you instructed us to…" 

"Don't mention what I did ever again. I'm not backing out of the experiment, but I'm not backing out of this either. Kisho should have been the only test subject." Rufus interrupted, carrying Reno towards a nearby operating table and setting him off his back…allowing the red-head to grasp the table with his dragon-like left hand and stand up by himself.

"I…don't understand…" the scientist questioned, narrowing his eyes as if trying to make sense of what Rufus was trying to say.  
The president placed his hand on Reno's shoulder as the ex-Turk began panting…coughing up some more half-baked materia orbs, which the other scientists where eager to examine…but the red-head growled at them and bared his teeth, with Rufus being the only one able to cause him to stop by rubbing his shoulders and hushing him to calm down.

"Reno and I have been friends for years, I didn't want him to be put into this program…but dad told me if I didn't go ahead with it, ShinRa would fall and become worthless. Now that I have seen how bad this project really is, I don't want Reno to suffer anymore…pull him out of it." Rufus explained, not looking at the scientist.

"But…"

"If you don't pull him out of the project, then I'll pull you out of it. You'll still have Kisho when we capture him." Rufus informed, still not choosing to look at the scientist. Instead, he chose the pat Reno's back and help him clear his throat of whatever materia was in there.  
The experiments truly where horrible…if Reno was a full-breed of Fukumaden this wouldn't happen, and since he was forced into awakening his powers, his body doesn't know what to do…so everything overloads.  
Instead of making materia by his free will, his body makes it by the minute and it builds up. And he has to get rid of it before it destroys his vocal system, or if left untreated, his entire body.

"…yes sir…" the scientist sulked, muttering under his breath afterwards as he approached a nearby medical rack and collected a few bits and pieces for Reno's treatment.

"Reno, you alright?" Rufus asked, still aiding Reno in staying upright.  
The red head finally stopped coughing up materia and glanced at Rufus, his eyes still half open and blood still dripping from his mouth.

"Gah…I can't….feel my legs…" he whimpered, trying his best to move his legs…but all he could do was dig the claw-like toes into the ground and scratch the surface, after all, those legs looked very muscular and probably felt sore from how rapidly they changed.  
Downstairs, his left leg was fully changed, and his right wasn't far off…but now, it had fully changed like the left one.  
Luckily, Reno's right arm hadn't changed much. The left one now had large spikes shooting from the shoulder and the elbow, if he lunged at you with an elbow strike you'd probably get impaled by those spikes.

"Don't worry, I've got you…" Rufus whispered, still patting Reno on the back.

"Sorry for…attacking…Tseng…" Reno panted, a little more blood seeping from the corners of his mouth.  
Rufus took out a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped the red-heads mouth, chuckling slightly as he muffled like a child as he cleaned his face up with the cloth.

"Don't apologize, if you didn't attack I would have. You saved me the effort." Rufus chuckled, scrunching up the cloth before tossing it into a nearby bin.  
Reno smiled lightly back at Rufus and fully opened his eyes, but they fell back to being half open again once it became apparent that he was fighting the urge to sleep.

"He-he…you lazy bum…ugh…" Reno chuckled, yawning heavily before stumbling forwards.  
Luckily Rufus was supporting his torso as well; otherwise the red-head would have fallen flat on his face, and that would have hurt.

"Whoa there, buddy! Don't push yourself…" Rufus whined, trying with all his might to raise the dragon-like Reno back up to his feet.  
The scientist had finally gathered everything he needed and had made a syringe of the 'antidote' to Reno's problem, squirting a tiny drop to make sure it wasn't clogging the needle.

"Okay Rufus, if you could sit him on this table…" the scientist requested, patting the operating table Reno was resting against.

"…ugh…not more experiments…" Reno whimpered as Rufus hauled the heavy male onto the table, the red-head resting his back against nothing in particular…since the spikes on his shoulders meant that lying on his back would prove painful. Even resting his back against things would hurt.  
Thankfully though, the red-head was fully awake now that he'd seen the needle…and to stop an oncoming panic attack, Rufus chose to stand right in front of Reno and direct his blood-red eyes towards him.  
Reno raised his dragon-like left arm up and tugged at the horn sprouting from the side of his head, growling in irritation at it before scratching his back, a small pair of wings fluttering in joy as he soothed the itch on his back.

"No, it's nothing like that Reno…we're trying to find a way to restore you back to your old self." Rufus reassured, keeping his gaze on Reno…who had turned his blood-red eyes back to meet the ice-blue eyes of the president.

"…right…" Reno growled, narrowing his eyes at the president…almost glaring at him as if he wanted to savage the blonde right there.

"Don't look at me like that!" Rufus growled in anger, flashing off one of his famous 'I am not impressed' stares.

"…like what?" Reno whined, scratching his head with his left hand. Before glaring at Rufus again the instant he stopped scratching.

"Like you are right now, it's not funny…" Rufus pouted, narrowing his eyes at Reno.  
The red-head maintained his glare and didn't say anything…or even make a single noise other than deep growling. The tiny wings on Reno's back flapped once every few seconds, slowly as if showing signs of attacking. (Dragons flapping their wings slowly was usually a sign that they where preparing to attack. Go mythology research!)

"Reno, stop glaring at me like that…please…" Rufus pleaded softly, his gaze shifting from that of irritation to that of a fragile and broken child.  
The red-head's eyes widened slightly and tilted his eyebrows, as if expressing sympathy towards the blonde. A light whimpering sound seeped from the ex-Turks mouth, a sound that could be considered as a 'chirp'.

"…sorry, man…I don't know what came over me…" Reno whimpered, glancing at Rufus like a helpless dog…that was being yelled at by their master for doing something wrong.

"…you didn't…realize you where staring at me?" Rufus questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Ouch!" Reno winced in pain as he was quickly given the injection, the scientist hurrying to a safe distance as the red-head grasped the area he was pricked and glared at him in a threatening manner.  
But he soon retreated from the offensive posture and went back to whining about being in pain from the injection.

"There you go, now give it about 10 minutes and we should see some kind of progress…" the scientist informed as he disposed of the syringe and cleaned his hands.

"How long will it last?" Rufus asked, still glancing at Reno…making sure to keep a watchful eye on him.

"We think it will last about a week. But if we keep giving him it then his body should overpower the serum." The scientist answered.

"Better than not working at all." Rufus muttered.

"Anyway, he looks tired…maybe he should get some rest? You are free to come back anytime sir, to check his progress." The scientist informed.  
Reno grasped Rufus' jacket with his dragon-like hand and lowered his head…gazing down at his mutated legs, twitching in fear.

"No…" Reno muttered, still not looking at Rufus.

"Reno?" Rufus questioned, kneeling down to try and look at Reno's lowered face.  
The red-head raised his head slightly for Rufus to see him, his eyes where watery as if he was about to cry…and for almost a second, Rufus saw Reno's eyes shift from the blood-red to the vibrant-blue they use to be…before returning to the monstrous reddened eyes.

"Don't leave me…not here…please…" Reno pleaded.  
Rufus whispered to Reno and patted the red-heads bushy head, before smiling and standing upright again.

"…is it alright if I stay just a little bit longer?" Rufus requested, turning his gaze to the scientist.

"I don't see why not. I'll be in the office discussing things over with the Professor, he's still a bit iffy over loosing E2---I mean…Reno." The scientist answered, before taking his leave.

"Right." Rufus sighed, before grabbing a nearby chair and pulling it up near where Reno was sat.  
The ex-Turk had to stay on a table…after all; his new form meant that he couldn't sit down right on many things.  
They sit in silence for a while, with the hustle and bustle going on the in the labs it was hard to think of a topic to talk about without offending one another…or catching unwanted attention.  
Rufus was the one, however, to break the awkward silence.

"You feeling any better?" Rufus asked, glancing up at Reno as he remains slouched in the chair.  
The dragon-like creature in front of him snorted, and for a second Rufus felt the warm breath of the red-head as he let out a slight belch…a slither of smoke flowing from his mouth.  
This was more like it, instead of throwing up half-baked materia and causing himself pain his body was eliminating the crap materia using a self-built system. Where the materia just degenerates and turns into smoke…or usually…fire.  
It was more comfortable for Reno this way, and he might actually enjoy the power until it goes away again.  
At least, Rufus hoped it would go away.

"A little, yo." Reno chuckled, brushing the air in front of him to clear up the light smoke.

"If you even feel the slightest bit…abnormal…just say so. The last thing we want is for you to go nuts." Rufus said wearily.  
There was further silence once more, and the smell of something burning was making the scientists worry about their equipment…but Reno was reveling in how much better he felt, well, about the whole 'getting rid of crap materia' thing.

"…Rufus…" Reno blurted out meekly.

"Hmm?"

"Why was I thrown into this project anyway, man? I always did crazy shit as a Turk…but you never complained…" Reno asked, timidly looking up at Rufus as he took decided to slouch forwards.  
It took a while for Rufus to actually give an answer, because for a solid 3 minutes he just sighed and rubbed his head.

"…it was my dads wish for me to commence with a project he started with Hojo, I didn't want to go along with it…but Tseng made me." He finally answered.

"…Tseng…" Reno growled.

"Reno, don't get worked up over it. I'll brief you about the project right now if it will make you feel any better?"

(Rufus explains the project and everything he told to Cloud, see previous chapter about this. I can't be bothered to type it all up again. LOL.)

Reno sulked and examined his demonic left hand and growled.  
"…so mom was right…"

"Cloud and the others have gone to see her, just to find a little bit more information about your brother Kisho." Rufus reassured, brushing a hand through his golden hair.

Reno snorted "That's not my brother." as a response and looked away from Rufus angrily, as if insulted by the idea.

"W-what?" Rufus yelped, almost falling from his seat.

"My brother was lively and happy; this guy…" Reno began, narrowing his eyes as he thought before shifting his slightly angry eyes towards Rufus "…this guy is so boring and emotionless, yo. He's nothing like him. He even looks different."

"I think the experiments did that to him…sorry, Reno." Rufus apologized, settling back into his seat.  
Reno turned to fully gaze at Rufus and eased the anger that was previously printed on his face…shifting to that of uncertainty and slight worry "…am I going to become like him, too?" he blurted out almost unexpectedly.

"Hell no! Don't think like that! We're clearing you up to make sure that never happens!" Rufus snapped instantly. The last thing they wanted was for Reno to _think _and _believe _that he was going mad; if he thought about it and believed it…then it would happen.  
Hell, look at what happened to Sephiroth.

"…it's hard not to think about it…when my body is screaming out about it…" Reno whimpered; Rufus simply narrowing his eyes as he stared at nothing in particular, showing that he was feeling lost for words.  
They sat in silence, not daring to look at each other.  
Reno didn't want to look at Rufus in fear of something bad happening…and Rufus didn't want to look at Reno and make him feel like he was staring at him like some monster. Both wished to avoid offending the other by means of glancing, offending with words was avoidable…and so can visual contact.  
Rufus couldn't help himself though; he was worried that the antidote wasn't getting rid of any physical effects. It had been half an hour since Reno had his medication and nothing physical had changed.  
Reno shifted his gaze to Rufus and noticed he was being stared at, but to avoid an argument he remained quiet and chose to act as if he didn't notice.

"…"

"…"

The silence was awkward for the pair of them; one of the duo had obviously a right to feel awkward…here he was, a monster…his brother insane and on the loose…his family torn apart by religion…sat in a room filled with scientists and his best friend within a dangerous range if he went mad.  
What did Rufus have to be awkward about? It was Reno's_ silence_.   
If the ex-Turk was quiet it wasn't a good sign…even in his sleep he talked, because he's just that type of talkative guy.  
The last time he was this quiet was in a meeting with the other Turks. He was just sat there, and then he suddenly passed out on the floor. Rude said it was alcohol poisoning, Tseng? He just said he was a wuss and feinted because of the 'mission' he was given.  
Rufus chose to believe Tseng on the day…but looking back on it now, he thinks Rude's was most likely to be accurate.

"Reno…how long have we known each other?" Rufus asked, just to break the silence.  
Reno turned to glance at Rufus making a slight 'hmm?' sound, letting out a light burp afterwards as he lifted his head to see Rufus better.

"17 years…Why?" the red-head answered in a fairly content tone of voice.

"Nothing…it just…feels like I've known you ever since I was a boy myself." Rufus chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his head and glancing at Reno as if seeking him to try and make a conversation of this.  
The red head rolled his eyes and blurted out "…did you ever visit Kalm, yo?" in an irritated tone.

"Heh. Once. Back when my old man sent me out to train in other towns." Rufus answered, sounding a little irritated himself. (He was probably irritated by Reno's attitude.)

"No shit? How long ago was that?" Reno laughed, eager to find out.

"Pfft. I can't remember…" Rufus grunted, almost as if pouting about the conversation.  
Reno pouted back and snorted, turning his attention elsewhere.

"…" Rufus remained silent and started fiddling with his jacket buttons, looking slightly upset now that he'd realized he pissed Reno off just now. But he couldn't think of anything to say. Nothing.  
Reno shifted his angry glare to Rufus, still pretending to look away, but his eyes showed he wasn't angry anymore…but they flashed a little emotion to signify he was more worried about if he hurt Rufus feelings.

"Ya know…The first time I saw you man, was outside Kalm. You where wearing that bright white suit and tie, riding in a ShinRa truck loaded with all kinds of thugs…I couldn't help my curiosity, I followed the truck to the Mythril Mines and got attacked by shit loads of monsters...but it was worth it, just to see you blast them to pieces." Reno explained. Rufus perking up slightly as Reno began speaking, but chose to remain silent throughout…and for a short while afterwards, just to take all the information in.

"…you followed me in a ShinRa truck?" Rufus asked, slightly cautious if Reno was joking or not.

"Yeah…" Reno chuckled.

"That must have been when my dad sent me to clean the mines out…I think that was...20 years ago…?" Rufus pondered, scratching his head lightly as he thought.  
Reno laughed as soon as Rufus realized he had actually met him 20 years ago, well…in a way he met him.

"Yep. You where armed from head to toe, yo. I felt bad that I couldn't' help ya, but I was injured from just following you there." Reno laughed.  
Rufus remained quiet for a few seconds, as if trying to register something he'd recently thought about…before finally asking "…why'd you do that?" and catching Reno's attention again.

"Hmmm?"

"You know…follow me? Why did you follow me?" Rufus asked.  
Reno simply shrugged as a response.

"I don't know…something inside me just clicked and told me to follow you, yo. Guess it's the same thing that makes me follow you now." Reno chuckled.

"…you're full of mysteries, Reno." Rufus shook his head and rubbed it tiredly. The red-head really knew how to talk and drag-out a conversation…it was making the president think too much, and every time he did that he got a headache.

"You are too, ya know. Acting all cold and shallow and then acting all, like, whiney and sad. Ya confused us sometimes." Reno teased, sticking out his reptile-like tongue as he spoke.

"I never acting like that, well…not the whining and being sad part, at least." Rufus protested, making a light whining sound in a laughing manner as if pretending to be offended.

"Oh yeah? How come I saw you all whiney when you found out I was the only one who remembered your birthday?" Reno teased further.

"I wasn't whining! I was….just a little worked up from….work…" Rufus protested further.  
Reno just stared at him and shook his head, chuckling and making 'tusk' sounds.

"You didn't have work that day, yo." Reno teased.  
Rufus gawked and started attempting to make an excuse, but nothing was coming out right…his face was flushed pink in colour from embarrassment…because Reno was right.

"I…ugh….fine….I was crying." Rufus finally answered.

"Crying a fucking waterfall when I saw you." Reno sighed.

"I sent out invites for you guys to take the day off, as long as you came over and everything, but you where the only one who did." Rufus muttered, glancing at his feet…sulking.

"Tseng was working, Elena was complaining, Rude doesn't like parties or outings with superiors. He gets too nervous. Those are the only reasons why the others didn't come." Reno answered, brushing his right clawed and through his red-hair.  
There was an awkward silence again, and Reno was starting to shift his gaze from Rufus to other parts of the room…as if examining his surroundings like a confused puppy, wondering why they where there.  
Rufus took notice of this and decided to try and keep Reno occupied, just a bit longer anyway…he needs reassuring that no one is going to hurt him.

"…I thought they all hated me." Rufus blurted out, catching Reno's attention in an instant once again.  
The red head began swinging his legs back and forth and tilted his head to one side, a small smile on his face.

"Oh, Tseng hates your guts. He said you where too young to be president back when the whole 'Sephiroth' thing happened." Reno answered.  
Rufus blinked after hearing about the 'Sephiroth thing' and looked up at Reno, his eyes slightly reddened as if he was holding back the urge to cry.  
Well, he did bring up a lot of emotional topics…so it was his own fault.

"…that reminds me, I never thanked you for getting me out of the building." Rufus suddenly brought up yet another emotional topic…it was as if he was trying to make himself whine, or maybe he wanted to see what Reno would be like? After all, Kisho lost all his emotions through the experiments…maybe he was testing to see if Reno lost any of his too?  
The red head simply tilted his head in the opposite direction as before and made a confused whimpering sound, obviously he didn't know what Rufus was talking about.  
The president laughed and shook his head.

"When you ran up all those floors and hauled me out of the ShinRa HQ, just after Weapon attacked…nobody else came up. You did. Remember?" Rufus explained.  
Reno then made the gesture that he remembered, before clicking his more human fingers and pointing at Rufus…as if to say he remembered something else.

"Elena was too scared and Tseng and Rude where too busy trying to keep everyone calm." Reno blurted out.

"What where you doing then, before coming to get me?" Rufus questioned, raising an eyebrow slightly.  
Reno shrugged.

"Nothing...as soon was the attack blasted the place to shit, I just ran to get whoever was up there out. The rescue team told me to stay put, saying it was too dangerous for a young guy like me…but I just ran anyway, I knew someone was up in that building who needed help." He answered.

"…you didn't expect it to be me?" Rufus asked, puzzled by what Reno was trying to say.

"Something inside of me said it was someone close, a friend…then I remembered Rude was on the ground safe with Elena and Tseng…so after I remembered who else was a good pal of mine I ran faster, you where the president after all." Reno answered, ruffling up the blonde head of the younger man in front of him.  
After slapping the red-heads hand away from him and laughing, Rufus brushed his hair back into a tidy position.

"Bet you wish you didn't save me…after all this I've put you through." Rufus sighed.  
Reno stuck his tongue out again and laughed, pulling a 'neko-like' face (Japanese cat face) at the president.  
He certainly hadn't lost his sense of humor.

"Nawww, man. I'm still glad I did. You and Rude are the only real friends I have…Elena was a friend, until her and that bastard Tseng stabbed me in the back." Reno chuckled, until mentioning Elena and Tseng…where his tone dropped, into one of slight anger.

"Elena didn't want to go through with it either. It was all Tseng." Rufus informed.

"…guess I need to apologize to her now." Reno sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck and yanking at the horn on the left side of his head.

"Don't bother, she's just glad you're alive." Rufus said, shaking his head.  
The two sat in silence for a while and stared at one another…not once taking their gaze off the one sat opposite them.

"…"

"…"

The silence was starting to get unsettling, someone had to speak soon or they would both just say something stupid.  
Reno was the first to crack a word.  
"…Rufus?"

"Yeah?"

"When you fix me, does that mean I'm still fired and have to leave?"

"Only person who'll get fired is that scientist and _maybe_ Tseng…if he tries shooting you again I'll fire a bullet into his ass."

"He-he"  
The pair laughed for a while, with Reno occasionally letting out a strange roar-like laugh. But Rufus didn't seem to notice.

"Hey Reno, once this is all over, what do you say we go to Costa Del Sol for a bit? Hmm? Just like old times." Rufus suggested, breaking the laughter and rubbing his chin as if thinking.

"Ya know…that would be nice, but I just have a bad feeling in my gut right now." Reno smiled, before placing a hand over his gut.

"You're looking better, but are you feeling sick?" Rufus informed, before getting out of his seat and kneeling beside Reno.

"No…it's just…this feeling I have that something bad is going to happen to one of us. I just hope my heads playing games with me and not trying to tell me something, yo." Reno sulked, looking a little worried as he keeps his gaze low and away from Rufus.

"It's probably just you feeling tired…Vincent is with Kisho anyway so he won't let him try anything, you're safe here." Rufus explained, before standing up again and making his way back to his seat.

"My head says otherwise, yo." Reno blurted out, just before Rufus could sit down.  
The blonde remained stood up and turned to face Reno, sighing heavily before shaking his head at him.

"Ignore it." Rufus instructed.  
Reno glanced up to look at Rufus and smirked, looking almost sinister for a second…before flashing off a more humorous smile…as if to tease the president.

"Heh…how'd I do that, yo? Not as easy as ignoring someone else…" Reno laughed.  
Rufus was looking very serious now, he'd gone back to Reno and had knelt beside him again…but instead of looking calm and relaxed about a serious situation like before, he was cold and ruthless in how he looked and talked to the red head.

"Yes it is! You just listen to everything else that's happening but inside your head! Like hell I don't know…me!?" Rufus growled, narrowing his eyes at Reno…pouting like a spoilt brat.  
The red head sighed and flashed Rufus a depressed look, before shaking his head.

"I've been listening to ya, man. But the voice in my head keeps telling me it's all a lie."

"Don't listen to it! It's your damn brother trying to turn you against us!" Rufus snapped, jolting back to his feet.

"You're my only bro now, Rufus. So like shit I would go against you." Reno reassured, still looking slightly depressed.  
Rufus narrowed his eyes at Reno.

"You're talking in slang again, Reno." The president informed.  
He hated hearing Reno talk in slang or confusing, poorly structured, sentences…it made talking to him difficult, especially since most of the time he couldn't make out what the red head was trying to say.  
And Reno obviously knew that.

"I would never turn against you, Rufus." Reno answered in a very calm tone, almost letting go of his 'hipster' accent and exposing his more 'serious' voice.  
Rufus sighed.

"That's better."

"Oh. And Kisho doesn't have the power to make me go nuts…" Reno informed like a young child.

"It looked like he had some type of control over you a while ago." Rufus informed as he dragged his seat closer to Reno, allowing him to stay close without having to get up all the time.

"No, man…that was…that _thing _inside me…he's the one who made me attack…" Reno said reluctantly, pointing at his own torso as he looked at Rufus like an injured puppy.

"…that 'thing' controls you?" Rufus asked in a puzzled tone, listening with great interest.

"Sort of…I mean…I felt really scared the first time, and he woke up inside of me…I went crazy and attacked anything that got in my way, 'cause I just wanted to go somewhere and hide. But the second time…" Reno began, sounding a little nervous.

"You got angry." Rufus interrupted, getting into a thinking position.

"Heh. No shit…wouldn't you if some bastard shot you in the head and tried to kill ya?" Reno laughed in an irritated manner.

"You'd have jumped in front of me to take the bullet, remember?" Rufus answered coldly as he continued to think.

"Yo, I'm not a fool…" Reno growled.

"…you mean you wouldn't do your job?" Rufus asked in a slightly curious tone, still thinking and looking at the floor.

"…it depends…" Reno yawned, before closing his eyes and lowering his head forwards.

"Hmmm?" Rufus glanced upwards to look at Reno, who was slumped forwards as if he'd fallen asleep.  
The ex-Turk remained mute and motionless, not a single sound came from him…not even snoring.  
And everyone knew Reno was a loud snorer when he slept…if he wasn't talking in his sleep, that is.

"…"

"Reno? Depends on what?" Rufus asked, glancing at the red head in curiosity.  
But he didn't answer…he remained silent.

"…"

"…you alright?" Rufus asked, adjusting his position in the chair and lowering his head to see Reno's.

His eyes where shut and he looked emotionless…he wasn't even making any noise, no sign of if he was breathing or not.

"…"

"Reno?" Rufus asked again, sounding more concerned as he lightly grabbed the red-heads chin and raised his head to look at his own.  
His eyes opened slightly, one wider than the other. But he didn't answer.

"…"

"Reno, snap out of it! You're creeping me out!" Rufus whined, still keeping a hold of Reno's chin.  
One of the random scientists hurried over to investigate.

"What's the problem, sir?" the scientist asked.

"Reno just…froze…he...he won't answer me." Rufus explained in a highly worried tone.  
The scientist approached Reno and took Reno's chin himself, before checking his eyes with a little torch.

"That's odd…he usually talks to anyone when given the chance…" the scientist said in a curious tone, as he completed the checks.

"I know, that's why I'm so worried." Rufus sighed, rubbing his head.  
The red head remained silent and motionless as the scientist handled his head and continued to check him, his eyes still half open.

"…"

"Reno, can you hear me?" the scientist asked, pulling himself away from Reno and getting into a thinking pose.  
The red head raised his monstrous head and fully opened his eyes, his tongue hanging from his mouth slightly.

"…yeah." He answered tiredly.

"Oh thank god! I thought you'd slipped from us." The scientist sighed with relief, placing his hand on his torso as if calming himself down.

"…sorry." Reno apologized, lowering his head again before raising it once more…as if bowing in apology.

"Don't apologize, just make sure not to scare Rufus like that again!" the scientist laughed before taking his leave.  
Once he had gone, Rufus glanced at Reno again and placed his hand on Reno's dragon-like arm.

"So Reno, you sure you're alright?" Rufus asked in a concerned tone, shuddering slightly over how cold and scaly Reno's arm was.

"…yeah, I…I'm fine…" Reno answered, sounding slightly shaken up by something.  
Rufus narrowed his eyes.

"You don't sound alright to me." He informed "…then why'd you ask, yo!?" Reno growled instantly, as if offended by Rufus.

"Just to make sure, is that a crime?" the president growled, throwing another one of his famous glares at Reno.  
The red head was easily stared down into submission…causing him to drop that foul attitude he just had.

"…no." Reno whimpered.

"So, why did you suddenly go mute on me?" Rufus asked, folding his arms whilst still delivering Reno the same glare.

"I…don't know, man…"Reno answered.  
Rufus sighed and relaxed his posture and tone.

"Just don't do it again, alright? I don't want you to die on me…not now…"

"…I'm not gonna die, Rufus…I'll kill anyone who tries to kill either of us…"

"I noticed, a regular person would die on the spot from a shot like that. I'm just concerned for your life body-wise. We have no idea how this drug will work or affect you." Rufus smirked; rubbing the back of Reno's head to neaten up the shaggy mess he called hair.

"It just…hurts…" Reno sulked, placing his more human hand onto his torso.

"Hmm? The place he shot you?" Rufus questioned as he still tried to tidy up Reno's messed up hair.

"No…" the red head sighed.

"What? What hurts, then?" Rufus asked as he finished tidying up Reno's hair as best he could from where he was previously, choosing to get up and do the back of Reno's hair next. After all, his hair had burst from the previous ponytail and was everywhere. It made Reno look like some wild monster.

"…I…I don't know exactly…just…my chest, it feels so sore…" Reno answered in a slightly uncomfortable tone.  
Rufus had obtained a hair band and a brush from another scientist and continued to try and return Reno's ponytail to normal, having to talk with the annoyance of untangling the red-heads elongated hair.

"It's probably the materia your brother impaled you with, don't worry…we'll get it out." Rufus informed as he finally began tying the hair up.

"You can't take it out." Reno said instantly, as if ordering Rufus that he couldn't take it out…rather than say it's impossible. 

"What? You don't want us to take it out?" Rufus asked in a confused tone as he finished doing Reno's hair.

"No…you CAN'T take it out. If you do, we'll all die." Reno informed, swishing his ponytail over his shoulder…only for it to get caught in the spikes on his left shoulder and tangle again…leaving Rufus with another job.

"…are you trying to scare me, Reno?" Rufus growled as he tried to untangle the mass of hair again.

"Why would I lie to you right now?" Reno blurted out almost randomly.

"I never said you where lying." Rufus laughed, finally getting the hair untangled from the spikes.

"No…but you where THINKING about saying it." Reno growled.  
Rufus instantly jolted from Reno and nearly fell over backwards, with how Reno growled at him…and claimed he read Rufus' mind.  
And by Rufus' reaction, he was thinking just what Reno said.

"W-what!? You…you actually read my thoughts!?" Rufus gasped in surprise.  
Reno suddenly realized he was growling and looked away worriedly.

"…sorry." He apologized.

Rufus regained his balance and rubbed his forehead in confusion "B-but…the report never mentioned---!" he began "----It wouldn't say anything about it. We keep the power under wraps." Reno interrupted, still looking away from Rufus.  
The president regained his cool and narrowed his eyes at Reno.

"Reno, if you're not pulling my leg, then don't read my thoughts ever again." Rufus instructed, almost afraid of even thinking well…_anything_…now that he learnt of Reno's new power.

"…alright then…" Reno sighed as if disappointed by the order.

"And you never seemed to do it before, well…you never looked like you did." Rufus smirked before taking his seat again.  
Reno chuckled.

"Heh. I couldn't do it until I turned 27. It's a maturity thing…or at least that's what mom said to me." Reno sighed, looking down at his feet as he kicked them back and forth gently.

"…you miss your mother?" Rufus asked softly.  
Reno sighed as a response and nodded slightly.

"Sometimes."

"What about your father? I heard he was a good warrior…he must have trained you hard." Rufus asked.  
Reno narrowed his eyes and growled, digging his dragon-like hand into the table.

"My dad was a stuck-up bastard. I hope he's dead." Reno growled, obviously remembering all the bad things his father did to him.

"…I wasn't expecting to hear that…" Rufus blurted out in a slightly worried tone, Reno just shook off the angry behavior and chuckled.

"Heh. Not a lot of people do, yo." He chuckled lightly, flashing a small smile at Rufus to reassure he wasn't mad at _him_.  
But the silence returned…the horrible silence…

"…"

"…"

"So…you won't let us take the materia out of you? I thought you said it was causing a lot of pain?" Rufus questioned, breaking the silence once again.

The last thing he wanted was for Reno to go mute again…when that happens; it makes everyone think he's died or sick.

"It is, man…but you gotta understand, if you take it out we'll all die." Reno informed, before yawning and lowering his head again.

"...can you tell me WHY exactly?" Rufus requested, sounding a little irritated as he delivered another famous 'im not impressed' glare.  
But Reno fell silent again.

"…"

"Reno?" Rufus asked, getting up from his seat and grasping the red-heads chin…which raises his gaze up so he could see him again.  
But Reno's eyes where shut again…and Rufus felt the red-heads hot breath hit him in the face.  
Then something else hit him…the markings on his face…where starting to spread…and another horn was growing from the right side of his head.  
The serum must be strong, if it's still working under the reverse drug.

"…"

"Reno!?" Rufus yelled, shaking the red-head franticly to wake him up.  
But all he got was half-opened red eyes, drool and a limp and almost lifeless Reno…what was this behavior all about!?

"…ughh…" the red-head whined before slipping forwards and off the table, slamming flat on his face and almost taking Rufus down with him.  
The scientists hurried from their positions to investigate, but Rufus was already down by his side…screaming out for him to snap out of it and wake up.

"RENO!" 

**END OF CHAPTER 6****.**

AN: THIS WAS A VERY long one, the reasons why are obvious…and I won't do one this long EVER again for this story. It takes too long to do. (as you know with all the waiting!)  
I wanted to have just Rufus and Reno in this one (with the others popping in at the start) because…I just like them both. And Rufus had to take Reno's mind off all the negative things he was seeing in his head…and yes, Reno isn't lying. If the materia is taken from his body, everyone will die…oh! I'm no good at this! Review, please! And visit my Deviantart gallery for concept art:D  
(It was gonna have light shonen-ai in it, but I decided no for your sanity. Ha-ha! I might edit it if you demand me to do so.) 

Since the last teaser was long, this is super short! Adds to the suspension! And that mean the next chapter is gonna be shorter. And I have NO IDEA when that will be up! SORRY!

**Teaser for next chapter**

_"Brother, just look at you….don't you think you should be with us? You look so different to the human scum, come back with me."_

"I may look different, yo. But I'm still Reno Of The Turks! And nothing, not even 'Sei-whatever-his-name-is butt-head' is going to change that! I don't even know what the fuck has gotten into you, yo! I never promised destroying the world with my brother!"

"…then maybe if I took what was dear to you, you would see things much more clearly…RAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!!!!"

"RUFUS, RUN!!!" 


	7. NEW Authors Notice

**First of all, I wish to apologise for what happened. **I needed to have my PC rebooted when I got a new graphics card and sound system, and when that happened I lost everything...I could have sworn I backed-up this stories chapters, but it seems that the files have gone missing even in my back-up disc. This story wasn't going anywhere anyway in my opinion and needs to be heavily revised before I continue it, so you may notice some changes should I make anything new for it. But no promises.  
Once again, sorry.

Zuperbuu


End file.
